The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - Downfall of the sun
by SilentBlackCat
Summary: After saving Termina, Link tries to return to Hyrule, but is instead dragged into a world where things have gone horribly wrong. The Sun Goddess, Amaterasu, has gone missing, the sun has gone dark, everyone is in hiding, and monsters roam everywhere. Link must find a way to save Amaterasu and bring light back to the world before it's too late. My first Fanfic. Please R & R.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: I'm sorry if it looks like I slacked off in the end. This took me a lot longer to write than I expected and I didn't put in my best effort near the end. This is my first fan fiction, so I'd appreciate any feedback that you guys have. Just don't tell me that my writing sucks, if you're going to say this is the stupidest idea ever and it could be a lot better, then please tell me how. I do plan to finish this, unless I get mostly bad reviews, so enjoy, hopefully and tell me what you like best.**

 **I own neither Okami nor The Legend of Zelda, btw.**

 _After saving Termina from destruction, Link came to accept the fact that his friend Navi was dead. He sought to return to Hyrule, so he left through the portal from whence he came, accompanied only by his faithful steed Epona. He also took with him the gear which he had acquired during his three-day stay, including four powerful and extremely dangerous masks. As he was parting, the happy mask salesman decided to entrust him with the remains of Majora's Mask, stating that it would "probably be safer with a true hero". Reluctantly, Link took them, knowing that although the power which had once resided within was know dead, it would be the cause of many of his nightmares in the near future. The journey back was similar to his journey forward, a long, seemingly endless fall into black nothingness. The only difference was that this time, he was, of course, accompanied by Epona. As they descended into darkness, Link noticed swirls of light began to appear, which seemed to be in a constant struggle to reach him. As he watched, one swirl was completely swallowed up by the darkness all around, then another, and then another, until there was only one left. Curious, Link reached out to touch it, and was surprised to find that not only was it solid, soft, and pleasantly warm, but that as soon as he made contact with it tried to grab him. It wrapped around his arm and pulled him and Epona down a separate portal, one that was filled with light. He tried to shake it off, but the light had too strong of a grip. So Link just decided to relax and see where the light was dragging him and Epona. He reasoned that light wasn't evil, so he probably wasn't going to end up in a cave of hungry Wolfros. When the light faded, Link found himself (along with Epona) in the middle of a snowstorm. He pressed himself against Epona and shivered at the sudden cold. As he looked around at his surroundings, he only knew one thing for sure: he wasn't anywhere near Hyrule._

Oki looked up at the kind, grandmotherly woman as she rose from the center of the floor of the shack. Outside, a snowstorm raged fiercely and tore at the wooden boards that held the shack together. Inside, the only source of illumination came from a single candle. The candles formed a circle inside which the old woman stood. She wore long, baggy grey pants, a large, baggy black shirt, an orange vest, and a black hood that obscured her face. She wore no shoes, and her feet, like her hands, were covered in wrinkles. She never spoke, but if she would, Oki assumed that her voice would rasp out of her throat.

"Did it work?" He asked as the woman walked toward the fireplace and started trying to light it with flint and steel. When she finally succeeded, she threw in a couple of logs leaning near the wall, illuminating the rest of the room. The decorations were simple. There were more candles laying on top of a simple dresser, a cot in one corner, and a small table in another. Scroll paintings of a white wolf covered in red markings with a fiery disk on its back.

The woman turned to him and simply nodded.

Oki let out a breath that he hadn't realized that he was holding. Ever since the sun had gone out, he had thought that he was the one to save the Goddess of the sun, Amaterasu, and with her the land of Nippon. At the time, however, he had been a little...prideful. It had taken a fight with the Queen of Spiders to realize that Kutone would not glow for him, and if he couldn't win a fight with the Queen of Spiders, he couldn't win a fight with whoever had hidden away the sun.

Ever since then, he had traversed all of Nippon, searching for a hero that could make Kutone shine and defeat the great evil that hung over Nippon. But no one seemed a worthy enough candidate. In a final desperate attempt, he sought out a seer who went by the name Kona.

Kona was known for her ability to reach across alternate dimensions to produce creatures and items out of nothingness. That's what the sign said on the door anyway, Oki had no idea what it meant, but he figured that it meant Kona could find a qualified hero.

This had been Kona's third attempt, and it looked like it had drained her quite a bit, as she had collapsed in a heap on the floor soon after she had acknowledged that it had succeeded.

Oki ran over to her and helped her to move to the cot. "Where is the hero?" he asked as he gently lowered her onto the cot.

Kona gestured outside, and Oki sighed.

"Alright," He muttered as he grabbed Kutone, strapping the sheath across his back. "Let's go find a hero." He opened the door and stepped out into the storm, slamming the door behind him and turned into a wolf. He sniffed the air for unfamiliar scents, pacing in front of the house as he did.

After about five minutes, he picked up the faint scent of an unfamiliar forest.

His tail wagged excitedly, he started off across the snow to find the hero who would rid the land of darkness.

Unfortunately, he wouldn't be the first to greet the new hero.

 **Don't know how many of you like cliff hangers (likely answer: None), but I needed a way to introduce an original character of mine, plus, I wanted Link to get a new power; I'll just leave it at that. But in the meantime, don't hate please.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Just so you know, I'm not going to include Issun in this. No offense to those who like him, but I just have a dislike for the character. Instead, I plan on replacing him with an original character based off him. Sorry if you're disappointed, but I just can't write about someone I hate. I can't put myself into their shoes. :(**

 **Disclaimer: I own neither The Legend of Zelda nor Okami.**

 _Link staggered on through the storm, shielding his eyes with one hand and holding Epona's reins with the other. He had dismounted a long time ago; he hadn't been moving any faster, and he hadn't wanted Epona to get hurt. Besides from being a good friend, she was one of his only reminders of Hyrule, home, and who knows how long it would be before he could get back. He glanced back at Epona, just to make sure she was okay. As he did so, Link remembered the first time that he had met Epona._

 _It had been a beautiful, clear day. A day that had pretty much been ruined by the death of the Great Deku Tree. Impa had just shown him the way to Death Mountain, and told him that Spiritual Stone of Fire could be found with the Gorons that lived there. Impa had also said that the village at the base was Kakariko, her old home, and that he should rest there before attempting to scale the mountain. And with that, she disappeared in a flash. Literally._

 _After that exciting talk, Link had instead headed over to Lon-Lon ranch, pretty much in the opposite direction Impa had pointed. He remembered that Malon, the cute girl from the marketplace, had said she lived there, and Link (who may or may not have a crush on her) wanted to see where he lived._

 _He also wanted to see if Talon had made it safely home. Link had become fond of the portly man in the five seconds that he met him, and didn't want any harm to come to him._

 _At the ranch, he had first headed into the stables, where he met a creepy man named Ingo, who complained about how Talon never did anything and how he was always stuck doing the work. Link had figured that it was best to stay away from him._

 _Afterwards, Link entered what looked like the living quarters to find Talon resting, amid dozens of cuccos. He greeted Link cheerfully, and told Link that if he could find the three super cuccos, Talon would give him a reward. It took a little searching, but eventually he found them all and won a bottle of Lon Lon Milk. After being teased about his crush on Malon (how did Talon know?), he was told she was in the riding pen with a new foal._

 _Link had hurried over and entered the pen quietly, so as not to disturb Malon. She heard him coming anyway, and recognized him as "fairy boy" (Navi had found this funny, for some reason)._

 _Link had introduced himself, and Malon introduced him to Epona, who ran away at the sight of him._

 _After a brief chat, Malon taught him a song, which after he had played it on his ocarina, had caused Epona to gallop back to Link and nuzzled him affectionately. Epona and Link had been best friends since._

 _A sudden gust of wind jerked Link out of his stupor. He shook his head. He couldn't be distracted by details from the past. If he didn't find shelter soon, he was going to freeze to death._

 _He trudged on, briefly considering putting on his Goron mask, but decided against it. As a Goron, he had a better resistance to cold for sure, but he was a less experienced fighter in that form. He had no idea what dangers may be hiding in this new and unfamiliar land. It was best if he stayed prepared for danger._

 _As if to prove his point, a sudden scream cut across the air, followed by growls and snarls. Link glanced back at Epona, whose ears were pricked. She had heard it too._

 _Link stumbled along as fast as he could, heading toward the noise, as Epona followed closely behind him._

 _After about five minutes, they found the source of the scream._

 _The storm had just recently stopped, so he could clearly see what appeared to be a small woman (SUPER small, like insect sized small), with_

 _long blue hair and a blue kimono, was yelling, screaming, and waving a sword at a group of small, green monkey-like creatures (Imps, Link_

 _thought, although he had no idea how he knew that) who were tossing paper around with glee._

 _A yellow imp who appeared to be the leader watched the scene with satisfaction, but did not participate. It carried an enormous drum that seemed to be kept in the air using a form of levitation._

 _Link had just hiked up a snow-covered hill and observed the scene with distaste. He hated those who used their size and strength to pick on others, who thought that they had strength in numbers. It made him so steamed that he almost charged into battle, yelling insults at the imps who clearly took glee in the suffering in others._

 _Link stopped himself just in time. Just because he possessed the Triforce of Courage instead of the Triforce of Wisdom didn't mean he was dumb. He took his bow out his bow and nocked an arrow. Aiming at an imp who was starting to rip some pages to shreds, laughing gleefully as it did, he fired. His aim was true, and the imp was dead immediately, exploding into smoke like all monsters did._

 _The other imps looked around fearfully. As they did, Link fired another arrow at the one closest to the hill where he stood. As that one disappeared, the green imps began to run around and bump into one another in their panic to escape._

 _Only one remained calm, the yellow imp, who continued to look around, yelling at the other imps to stay put. None of the green imps remained though, and the yellow imp looked angrily around for the creature who disrupted his fun. Link fired an arrow at him, which instead crashed into the drum._

 _The imp jumped in surprise and looked in the direction of the arrow. It laughed when it saw that Link was only a child. It disappeared underneath the ground, and moved through the earth towards the top of the hill._

 _Link fumbled for the Lens of Truth and pulled out his bombs, remembering how he had defeated a creature who had used a similar tactic. He held his eye to the Lens and looked under the ground for the imp._

 _It was about a quarter of the way up the hill, so Link decided to meet it. Gesturing for Epona to stay put, he walked down the hill, stopping when he was a few feet away from its position. He lit a bomb and placed it right in front of him. He backed up a couple of steps, and waited for the bomb to explode._

 _He was pleased to see that he timed it right, the bomb exploded just as the imp was passing underneath. The imp popped up out of the ground, dazed and a little confused. Link pulled out his Gilded Sword and began to attack. Link had had it upgraded from his Kokiri Sword at Snowhead, so now it had a longer reach and hurt a lot more._

 _The yellow imp recovered rather quickly and blocked Link's attacks with his drum. It then began to bang on it, making large shock waves appear. Link was barely able to jump over them, maneuvering behind the imp as he did. Once more, he swung his sword and this time hit the imp a total of five times. It grew enraged and created a large shock wave that sent Link sprawling backwards._

 _The imp charged forward to finish him off, but Link rolled underneath its legs, taking the opportunity to slash at the place it really hurt. The imp howled in pain, but it still turned around and charged once more, limping a little and banging its drum rapidly, sending out rapid fire shock waves, as it did. Link charged forward as well, timing his jumps so that he jumped over each shock wave in quick succession. When he was about five feet away, Link jumped as high as he could, straight toward the yellow imp. The yellow imp was so startled that it just stared stupidly as Link brought the sword down on the imps head, jumping off its shoulders as it turned into smoke._

 _Link landed on his feet, sheathing his sword and returning his shield to his back. He turned to the small woman, who was more of a teenager than a woman, as she struggled to return the sheets of paper to a small leather satchel. It must have been magic, because the paper fit in without a lot of effort. Link also realized that she glowed a deep blue, similar to the glow of a fairy._ In fact, she looks a lot like Navi, _mused Link as he helped her to gather the papers. The Navi-looking_ _woman yelled something in a language he didn't understand, but stopped as Link handed her the papers. She looked at him a little cautiously, but accepted the papers anyway._

 _Link helped her to gather the other papers strewn about the field as well, pausing when he spotted a familiar looking shape. It was a remarkably good drawing of a constellation, and it formed the shape of a dragon similar to Volvagia._

 _As he stared at the paper, caught in the memories of the past, the constellation began to glow, and everything went black_

 **Author's note: Okay, I'm glad that that's over with. I feel like I tried to stuff too much into one chapter, and I hope that you didn't nod off halfway through. Please Review! I want to know how I can improve my writing, so don't hesitate to hurt my little feelings! Just make sure you tell me** _ **why**_ **! Sorry again about Issun! :(**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: Sorry this chapter took so long to get out, I got a stomach virus that put me down for awhile, and I ended up missing school, so I've had to catch up on that. Sorry. :(**

 **I've had this idea bouncing around in my head for a while, and it feels good to get it down on paper, or at least on a webpage. Hopefully this next scene will make some of you more interested. That's all I'm saying for now, so read on to find out!**

 **Disclaimer: I own neither The Legend of Zelda nor Okami.**

 _When Link woke up, he was standing in the middle of the night sky. His breath caught in his throat as he took in the beauty of the scene. Although the moon shone brightly overhead, it did nothing to diminish the radiance of the stars. Each shone as bright as a beacon, and each shone equally bright. They formed complex patterns that were unfamiliar to Link, who was used to gazing the skies of Hyrule, but somehow, they seemed so familiar…_

 _He happened to glance down and his breath caught once again. His first thought was that he was standing on water, but then he realized that that wasn't quite true. There was a small bit of water, yes (which was so clean and pure that he could see right through it, and all around him it was as still as glass), but he was not actually standing on it. He was standing in it, on an invisible barrier that prevented him from plummeting through the universe forever. As he observed all this, he realized that although one might think themselves to be significant, they, like everyone else, were only a small speck in the grandeur of the heavens._

" _Beautiful, isn't it?" asked a gentle, masculine voice._

 _Link jumped about a foot in the air and quickly turned to face the speaker. He found himself face to face with a large white dragon. The dragon was snakelike, much like Volvagia in appearance, but covered in faint red markings. He (Link assumed it was male) was clutching four spheres in each of his claws that shone like the stars all around him. A scroll was attached to his tail, and it waved behind him as he hovered, fluttering as if in a gentle breeze. He did not touch the ground, and his body looped around in complicated patterns. The dragon chuckled a little, and turned to face Link._

" _I'm sorry, young one," The dragon spoke softly, but it seemed that his voice reached every corner of the plain (Link could think of nothing better to call it) as he spoke, "I did not mean to startle you"._

 _The dragon dropped down a little to look eye to eye with Link. The dragon's eyes were like deep amber pools, and Link felt that he could get lost in his gaze forever. "You have a right to be amazed, however," the dragon said, looking around at the empty plain, "For few have laid eyes on this place, the meeting place of the gods." Link was awed by his words, but he felt like he'd heard this before, he'd just forgotten it. But how was that possible? He'd have known if he'd been here before._

 _The dragon once again turned towards him. "I sense your confusion, and I would be as well, if I were in your place, so I will try to explain as best as I can." The dragon cleared its throat, and began to speak._

" _My name is Yomigami," He began, turning to face a group of stars above them, "and I am one of the thirteen brush gods that keep balance in this land. But what I'm about to tell you happened a long time ago, before Shiranui came to Nippon, before the humans grew to be the nasty things they are today, before even Mario was a thing. The gods and goddesses had met up to discuss the solution to a problem that had plagued them for months: an evil wolf had been causing mischief, stealing things, terrorizing the minor gods, that sort of thing."_

" _I remember that almost everyone showed up to watch the humiliation of the wolf. It had never happened before, and everyone was curious to see what was going on. We had decided to chain the wolf, and I was told to hold the chain to prevent the wolf from escaping. I didn't think it was necessary, however, as the wolf seemed to accept his fate willingly. The look in his eye was one of fierce determination, and I knew that he would have been a good ally of a fierce opponent. If only things had been different! Shiranui, the wolf god of the sun, one of the thirteen brush gods, seemed to share my thoughts. The look in his eye was one of sorrow."_

" _Arceus was chosen to judge the 'trial', if it could even be called that. This had never happened before, so of course no one knew what to do. Eventually, Arceus had decided that the best thing to do was to put the wolf to death. 'Does anyone have any objections?' Arceus's voice boomed loud and clear over the face of the plain. I wanted to speak up, but my tongue was tied, and I had no idea what to say to convince a being such as Arceus."_

" ' _Very well,' Arceus had said, preparing his signature judgement attack. 'Prepare to mate your fate, beast.' The wolf had said nothing, just closed its eyes and waited for the end. And that was when Shiranui walked forward. 'Hold on Arceus,' he said, looking at the wolf, 'I think death is a cruel punishment. He could still be of some use to us.' he said turning to face the crowd. The other godly beings had murmured in assent."_

 _Arceus let his attack fade. 'And how,' he asked, perhaps a little annoyed that Shiranui had chosen to speak up_ after _he had asked for objections, 'do you plan on doing that?'. It was a surprise to everyone, including myself, when I suggested 'He could be turned'."_

" _Everyone's gaze shifted towards me, and suddenly I was the center of attention. Even the wolf, whose eyes were a hard, icy blue, stared at me in curiosity. I gulped and managed to mutter 'Do you see his determination? If he was turned, he may become a valuable ally.' "_

" _There were murmurs of agreement, and even Arceus was nodding his head in assent. No one wanted to have blood on their hands. But there was still one problem. Arceus turned to face the wolf. 'Do you wish to become one of us?' he asked. stepping forward."_

" _The wolf immediately crouched and growled in a threatening way. Arceus had sighed, but Shiranui silenced Arceus with a glare. It suddenly appeared as if Shiranui had a huge migraine, as he rapidly lowered his head to the ground and put his paws over his head."_

" _After a few seconds, Shiranui hopped to his feet, completely fine. He suddenly broke into a howl, so beautiful that all mindless chatter. Everyone was enchanted by Shiranui's voice. Even I, who had heard him howl many times before, was enchanted by his song. The blue-eyed wolf watched for a few moments, closed his eyes, and joined Shiranui in his song. Their voices together, the wolves strong voices as they sang together, were so beautiful that no one could help but cry (Even the God of War, but I kept that to myself, no telling what he would do)."_

" _A few moments later, something so extraordinary happened that I had had to check with my fellow gods to see if they had experienced it too. My vision had blurred, and when it had cleared, I saw a young man standing amidst a pack of wolves. As the song continued, he gradually fought his way out of the pack, who all seemed to be howling mournfully with the song as he did so. The man bowed his head, but left the wolf pack behind him as he waved a mournful goodbye and walked away."_

" _My vision blurred once more, and when it cleared, kneeling before Shiranui was a young, handsome man with messy blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, just like the wolf's. He was wearing a green tunic along with knee-high leather boots, leather fingerless gloves that reached his elbows, brown pants, and a green cap. On the ground in front of him was a mask shaped like the muzzle of the wolf, with the same dark grey coloring the wolf had sported."_

" _Needless to say, I was shocked, even more when I saw the tears running down the man's (_ Was _he a man? He still looked like a boy). I was still holding the chains, but now they had broken at the cuffs, and were lying on the ground in front of the boy (Definitely a boy, he was seventeen, not eighteen). I decided to wait to see what happened next before I restored the chains. No one would thank me later, and I didn't want to set the wrong impression."_

" _The crowd of gods and goddesses quickly regained their composure. I saw the God of War straighten up abruptly and smiled. I was going to tell a certain angel about this later, but for now, I just watched the exchange between Shiranui and the boy."_

" ' _Don't blame yourself," Shiranui said, looking at the boy, a bit of rasp in his throat, "your heart had been corrupted by darkness. There was nothing you could do.' "_

" _The boy simply nodded and stood up. I could tell he was deeply upset about what had transpired, but he was determined not to show his weakness. There was a glint in the eye that marked him as a fighter, and I couldn't help but feel impressed. I knew that this boy would do everything in his power to redeem himself, and indeed he did."_

" _Just a few months later, a powerful demon named Demise threatened the existence of the gods. He was so powerful that even Zeus trembled to think about it. With the combined effort of most of the Gods, most notably Hylia, we barely managed to seal him away in a new, blossoming land we decided to call Hyrule, after Hylia, after she had saved the mortals by sending them up among the clouds on a floating hunk of land. It was a short lived victory, we knew the seal would break eventually, Demise was too powerful, and we had no idea where his sword was. It had disappeared shortly after the battle, and was a powerful dark relic that functioned a lot like Hylia's sword."_

" _We didn't think anything of it at the time, but we did realize that Demise would have to be defeated soon. But if he was so powerful that the gods couldn't stop him, then who could? Zeus suggested an answer. He said that in his world, some monsters could only be defeated if a god and demigod worked together. The mortals that Hylia had hid in the sky were perfect, as she had also sent up the Triforce, three powerful triangles that granted the user the power of the gods. The idea was to send two immortal beings, a male and a female, down as mortals to find the Triforce and beat the self-proclaimed Demon King."_

" _The problem was, who to send? No one wanted to give up immortality, especially when a dangerous monster was on the loose. That's when the wolf-turned-boy stepped up, willingly volunteering to practically sacrifice himself to the monster. Most just laughed, they couldn't believe that this_ boy _thought he could defeat an enormous demon._ Or _that he was willing to mingle with mortals, most could not stand the creatures. The boy had just glared at them, and stated 'Maybe you'd rather stand around, cowering in fear, like_ mortals' _he'd said growling as he spit the words out, 'But I would much rather face this problem head on. At least_ I _won't lose my identity when I'm among them' "._

" _Now, the boy didn't really hate mortals, he was just making a point. And a nasty burn as well. Ouch. I still wince when I think about it. Anyway, after that, most immortals burst out in anger, but there were a couple who stood around, ashamed that the boy was in some respects right. Hylia was one of these, and volunteered to be the female, which made the most sense. After all, it was_ her _sword the hero would be wielding."_

" _Shiranui and the rest of us brush gods were affected as well. In fact, after the hero left, we took on the task of cleansing the land of Nippon, which was overrun by monsters. By the time we were done, about a millennia had passed, and we heard whisperings about the boy."_

" _He was stronger than we thought, he had defeated Demise in_ single combat! _SINGLE COMBAT!". He had also established the kingdom of Hyrule, which had grown significantly larger, and had risen up twice more against those who would destroy the kingdom. "_

" _After Shiranui's death, the hero was grieved, and remained that way for quite a while. Then after a century, something unexpected happened. The Demon King, Demise, who everyone had thought had been sealed away forever, rose up in the body of a mortal, named Ganondorf."_

" _The hero once more left to save Hyrule, and once more succeeded. Afterwards, he disappeared to somewhere unknown, and has now wound up in the land which we tried so hard to say. And I must say, Link, you've changed so much. Will you please help to restore Nippon?_

 _As Yomigami finished his story, he looked at Link expectantly, expecting an answer. Link would have responded, but he was too busy experiencing the past. He watched as he fought Demise, a thousand years ago. He watched as he restored the broken Picori Blade. He watched as he split into four of himself, which was like experiencing split personality disorder. He experienced himself, anger, extreme shyness, and craziness. That wasn't even mentioning the feral instinct that was slowly growing inside of him, urging him to cower in fear at the sight of the dragon. It raised so many questions, the biggest being: Who was he really?_

 _He'd been suffering ever since the great bay, where he'd received the Zora mask, and meet the Zora musician's wife. He had tried to be someone he thought he wasn't, but for some reason, the role came easy. He thought that he'd solved the issue when he'd beaten Majora's Mask, but it had returned full force. Was he the Hero of Time? Was he the Chosen Hero of the Goddess? Was he even a hylian? Was he a wolf god instead? ARGH! It was all so confusing._

 _He was suddenly aware that Yomigami had asked him a question and looked up. Yomigami looked worried. "Are you alright, Link?"_

 _Link slowly nodded. He'd just had his mind blown was all. It happened way too often, but now he was alright, as long as he took deep breaths._

 _Yomigami looked at him with concern. "I know it's a lot to take in, Link. But this land, Nippon, needs your help. I'm sure you've noticed that the sky hasn't lightened yet."_

 _Link once again nodded. He'd noticed, but hadn't thought anything of it. He'd just assumed that the nights were longer, or that this land...Nippon, was simply experiencing a harsh winter._

 _Yomigami went on. "Well, the reincarnation of Shiranui, the Sun Goddess Amaterasu, went missing about five years ago, and ever since then, the sun has gone out. And the rest of the brush gods are disappearing one by one. There are only eleven of us left, and that's counting Bakugami four piglets, who don't really do anything. Nippon has fallen to darkness, and know monsters roam the land. Mortals have either died or gone into hiding, and the ones who have tried to fight have been slaughtered. The mastermind behind this can't be tracked, and believe me, we've tried, so for the past year, our hopes have rested on a young Oina warrior named Oki. Unfortunately, he was defeated in battle by a creature called the Spider Queen. So we searched for a hero, but none here seemed worthy. The Oina warrior found a seer named Kona, and with our aid, you were able to be pulled here. You are our last hope Link, please help us."_

 _Link's head was reeling, and for a second he almost said no. Then he remembered Termina, a land without heroes, and sighed. This was a similar situation he faced now. It wasn't his land, but it was full of innocents who needed their rightful hero. Link sighed, he was a little tired of this, but who else would do it? Glumly he nodded his head. Maybe he could get something out of this…_

 _Yomigami smiled. "Thank you, Link. I know you're a little tired and frustrated, but thank you for your help. The remaining Brush Gods and I will try to help as much as possible, and we each have special gifts that we'd like to give you."_

 _Yomigami moved his tail in a circle above Link, causing the scroll to spin around him. "I am the Brush God of Rejuvenation, but I have other things to give. I know, for instance," Yomigami smiled a little more, "that it can be hard to communicate to someone you can't understand, so I'm helping you to understand and write in the language of Nippon. I can't help you to speak it, but," Yomigami looked at Link and grinned "I've always understood you to be the strong-but-silent type."_

 _Link grinned back. It was true that he wasn't the most talkative hero, but that was mainly because he normally had nothing to say. He had no problem talking, but he never saw any reason to. Navi used to do all the talking, and when she was gone, it was Tatl who talked, but not as much as Navi._

 _Link shut down that line of thought quickly. He'd already mourned enough. No reason to revisit the past._

 _Yomigami suddenly stopped moving the scroll and backed up. Link put on a poker face and faced the dragon as he spoke._

" _Now, try not to laugh at Tachigami's appearance. He finds it extremely offensive, and unless you want your throat slit, I wouldn't make any comments."_

 _Yomigami's tone was dead serious, so Link found it that much harder to keep from laughing as a mouse-shaped constellation began to glow, and a small mouse wielding a giant sword emerged. Luckily, Tachigami's gaze had been on Yomigami, so when Tachigami turned to face Link, Link barely had enough time to put on his poker face._

 _Tachigami was a small white mouse with the same red markings and amber eyes as Yomigami. He had the eyes of a warrior, which met Link's icy stare unflinchingly. It turned into a staring contest of sorts, and Link was the first to blink._

 _Tachigami smirked, but said in the gravely voice of a warrior: "Well done, that's the longest time someone has met my gaze. I believe you have a good chance of fighting off any and all monsters that cross your path."_

 _Link had to smother down another fit of giggles at the fact that this gravely voice came from a creature smaller than his head. Luckily he had mastered the art of the poker face, and simply nodded in thanks._

 _Tachigami went on. "I noticed the way that you defeated that yellow imp. It was amazing, but it looked like it was the only advanced technique in your arsenal. Am I right?"_

 _Link nodded. So sad, but so true._

" _Anyway," Tachigami went on. "_ _I thought that I'd change that." The mouse moved his sword in a complicated pattern. He suddenly brought it down in a vertical slash, and Link was surprised to see a scroll wrapped around the blade._

" _Take it," Tachigami said. "It's a list of advanced sword techniques, specially suited to you. If you read it in one of your altered forms, the scroll will change to show advanced techniques you can perform in that form. Best of all, only you can read it! The parchment is just about everything-proof as well, but still,_ don't lose it!"

 _Link carefully pulled the scroll off, unrolled it, and studied the first part. It told Link that if he knocked an enemy onto the ground to finish it off by jumping onto the enemy and plunging his sword through its body. It also said to backflip off as quick as possible, so you wouldn't leave yourself vulnerable. He pocketed the scroll and turned to face three monkeys, who had appeared in a similar fashion to Tachigami._

" _We're the Hanagami," they said in unison. "And together, we know a special song that has been said to summon help, no matter who plays it." Together, the monkeys played a short, six note song (Yomigami said later that one played the sho, one played the shakuhachi, and one played cymbals. Link only knew what cymbals were), and then played it again, so that Link could commit it to memory._

 _Link listened, then searched his pockets until he found the smooth, beautiful, sky blue Ocarina of Time. It had mysterious power that was utilized when certain songs were played. These songs had saved Link more than once, and the only way to call Epona was to play a certain song. When he called, she always answered, no matter if he was Zora or Scrub or Goron, she always had his back._

 _As he played the song, he could feel the power of the song as it swirled around him, notes pinwheeling all around. It was so powerful he could feel the air vibrating._

 _As Link finished the song, the monkeys stepped closer to Link, stopping about five feet away. "This song is called 'Sunrise', and it holds the powers of the sun, much like your 'Sun's song', except 'Sunrise' is much more powerful. The effects change depending on your situation, so try experimenting all over!"_

 _The three monkeys were suddenly tackled from behind from four small piglets, who appeared to be wielding flames. A large, white, boar followed, sporting the same red patterns as the other brush gods._

" _My name is Bakugami," the boar said, sighing as all four piglets tried to tackle him to the ground. "And don't mind my children, they don't get out much. I'm the master of the brush technique 'Cherry Bomb', but from the looks of your battle, you have some powerful explosives of your own. So I thought that I'd give you this."_

 _Bakugami stomped his hooves twice, and what looked like a green shield engulfed in flames appeared in front of Link. "This is 'Divine Retribution', the reflector used to resurrect Amaterasu. You can use it as a shield, and it's a great form of attack. When you block any attack, the energy from it is stored in the reflector, and when enough attacks have been blocked, you can release it in one powerful fiery attack. Go ahead and take it."_

 _Link was a little reluctant to touch_ _fiery objects, but if Bakugami was offering, it must be alright. He put the mirror shield in his inventory and strapped the green "reflector" across his back. He was pleasantly surprised to find the flames did not burn, but were instead pleasantly warm. He nodded in thanks, and the boar stepped back, but not before Link heard him mutter "It appears that I'm the only one besides Yomigami who cares what brush stroke I've mastered." It was then that Link realized that he had no idea what Tachigami and Hanagami were the gods of. He had been under the impression that all gods liked to boast about their strength and how they were all-powerful and all-knowing, but these gods were so modest! Link was impressed._

 _In a burst of moonlight, the last brush god appeared. Link was a little surprised to see a white rabbit (still sporting the same red markings), carrying what looked like a plate full of white balls. "Mochi?" she asked, offering the plate to him._

 _Link took one, and was surprised to find that it was quite good. He reached for another, and the rabbit happily obliged. When he was done stuffing his face, the rabbit looked quite flattered. "My name is_ Yumigami. _Don't confuse me with Mr. Oh-so-serious over there." She gestured toward Yomigami. "I'm the brush goddess of the move 'Crescent', but I've heard that you have a small bit of magic, so I thought I'd teach you a spell I like to call 'Moonbeam'. Basically, it forms a beam of moonlight that can be used to freeze your enemies. Like this." She pointed at one of the monkeys of the Hanagami trio, and her eyes, formerly amber (like every other brush god/goddess) began to glow silver. Fast as lightning, a moon beam shot from her eyes and and hit the monkey, who froze in place instantly._

 _Smirking, she turned towards Link. "Here's the spell, you can even store it in your inventory!" she exclaimed as Link accepted the silver light sphere she offered. It seemed he wouldn't need very many Deku nuts in the future..._

 _As Yumigami stepped back, Yomigami cleared his throat. "Forgive us, Link. It's been awhile since we've had company." Yumigami stood off to one side, gesturing towards Yomigami and making a circular motion with her paw. Link smiled. He saw that Yumigami and Yomigami had a love/hate relationship going on._

" _We'd like to offer you two final gifts Link. The first," One of the unfrozen monkeys offered him another strip of parchment. "Is a map of Nippon. We've marked the location of the Spider Queen on your map. We're not sure, but we think she holds a brush goddess captive. The second," One of the monkeys handed him a mask. "Is a mask that will transform you into a wolf."_

 _Link let out an involuntary shudder as he studied the mask. It was mostly a dark grey, but there was a bit of white coloration on the forehead that formed an unfamiliar symbol. He was a little nervous and reluctant to use it. None of his other masks were anything like animals, so he had no idea what to expect if he put it on. Would instinct overcome him, or would he remain in control? It would be hard to take off as well, wolves had no thumbs. Plus, it reminded him too much of his past life. Every time he did, he felt like he had a headache, with all the Links inside trying to tell him the best way to approach a problem. Nevertheless, he slipped it into a pouch where all his other masks. As he did so, he felt his hand run over the pieces of Majora's Mask. He shuddered, and turned to face the brush Gods._

" _Please, Link," They spoke in such perfect unison it was almost disturbing. "Find the other other brush Gods, they will help you find Amaterasu. And hurry! Her time is almost up."_

 _A pillar of light appeared, catching Link in the center of it and lifting him in the air. As his vision faded, the last thing he saw was the sad eyes of Yomigami. "Link, I'm sorry." Link may have been imagining things, but he thought he heard the dragon apologize. But for what, he had no idea._

 **Author's note: Whew! Super long! Longer than I thought. So Link is part god, or at least that's how I see him. I got the idea because both Zelda and Ganondorf are gods, (Except Ganondorf is more like the Demon King) and both maintain** _ **their**_ **appearance in the Twilight. So I thought that made Link like some wolf god, and the Triforce forces him to assume his godly form to prevent from being turned into a spirit. Or it could mean that Farore is a wolf, Din is a female boar (pig just sounds bad) and Nayru is the only one who assumes the appearance of an angel. But that's just me theorizing. I'm curious to know why** _ **you**_ **think Link turns into a wolf in the Twilight. I made that part about Link being evil because Twilight corrupts, so maybe Link's wolf form in Twilight princess is a corrupted form and the Hero's shade is the non-corrupted one. That will probably play a role in a coming chapter…**

 **Anyway, if you're wondering how Yomigami can hold stars and chains at the same time, I thought of the chains coming** _ **from**_ **the stars, like chains made of light. Sorry if I didn't nail the personalities of the brush gods, I just did my interpretation of the brush gods. I might give Link multiple personalities, like red link from Four Swords is his more anger driven side, but what do** _ **you**_ **think I should do? One more thing, I imagine the song 'Sunrise' is the beginning notes of "The Sun Rises" from Okami. If you haven't heard it, check it out.**

 **Please review, I'd be more than happy to hear how perfect my writing is as well.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: In case any one was wondering, yes, I did include Pit in the last chapter, but only as a vague reference. I changed the genre to include humor not because I'm going to try a stand-up comedy routine, but because I'm trying to stick true to the way a Zelda game is written in story and that includes bits and pieces of humorous dialogue. I won't be changing the way I write just because I changed the genre.**

 **Also, those Majora's mask fans, if you haven't already, you need to check out the "Terrible Fate" video by EmberLabs and the albums "Time's End" and "Time's End 2". It is EPIC. Wish they would make a movie. But first read this chapter. ;)**

 **Also, if you don't like a way a character is portrayed, you can contact me if you wish and tell me how you think I should portray them. If my email doesn't show, tell me about it in a review of something. That's why they're called reviews, and please** _ **do**_ **review. I want to become a better writer and I will keep leaving this in the author's notes until finally someone** _ **does**_ **review.**

 **Disclaimer: I own neither the Legend of Zelda nor Okami.**

" _WHAT!?"_

The imp cowered in fear as its master glared at it with a look that sent shivers traveling down the imp's spine. It was a fool to think that it would be rewarded for information about a mysterious new figure, one that the imp had never seen, but was an expert at the bow.

The imp's master was extremely agitated and furious, and paced back and forth in front of a dark metal throne covered in iron spikes painted red. A ring of fire surrounded the throne, separating the imp and master. The flames rose up ten feet, blurring the air and nearly making it impossible to see its master as its master paced.

The throne was hidden away in one of the darkest, deepest, most terrifying places in Nippon. Few could find it, and those who did often didn't live to tell the tale. It was this part that the imp was focusing on as its master glowered at it with absolute fury.

"I have created you to destroy all those who oppose you." the imps master snarled in distaste. "I have _not_ created you to feel fear, nor run away at the first sign of trouble. _I EXPECT YOU TO COMPLETE YOUR ASSIGNED TASK, NO MATTER THE COST!"._

At these last words the imp staggered back, as though it had been hit. And it appeared to be, blood-like ink was dripping from a gash on its chest.

The imps master calmed for a moment, panting heavily as the master relaxed back on the throne. "At least tell me that you've managed to capture the poncle and destroy the documents that she was carrying." The imps master glared at the imp, a steely gaze which few could meet. "You did, didn't you?"

The imps breath came in ragged gasps. It was truly terrified now. It realized that it probably wasn't going to make it out of this alive, and tried to make a break for the cave entrance.

A sudden explosion sent the imp staggering backwards, causing it to collapse at the center of the cave. "ANSWER ME!" the imps master roared. "DID YOU MANAGE TO CAPTURE A SMALL, WEAK, PONCLE WITH VIRTUALLY NO DEFENSES!?"

Trembling, the imp quickly shook its head before it realized what it was doing. Its master practically exploded with rage. "THEN WHY ON EARTH DID YOU CRAWL BACK TO ME WITHOUT COMPLETING YOUR MISSION!?"

Bullets of blackness suddenly whizzed through the air and struck the imp where it lay. The imp howled in pain as the blackness seared flesh, writhing and squirming on the ground as it slowly melted into a pillar of smoke.

The imps master breathed heavily as a large fox with nine tails approached from behind. "That was a rash decision." The fox wheezed in the voice of a man.

The former master of the destroyed imp spun around to face him. "Oh, like you're one to talk, Ninetails. I heard you destroyed an entire party of imps simply because one of them got a little too close to your tail." Now that the master wasn't chastising an imp, its growl was distinctly feminine.

Ninetails bristled. "I only destroyed the one. Besides, what's wrong with that? It looked like it was going to pull my precious tail. It was self defense!" Ninetails defended.

The master rolled her eyes and flicked her tail. "Yeah, well I can easily create another one, I just simply have to 'paint' it into existence using Amaterasu's special brush." she said, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"...which, if I may add, was only made possible because of me." Ninetails added, a hint of playful bragging in his voice.

The master simply rolled her eyes and replied "...yes, and I'm most grateful for that, but you don't have to go rubbing it in all the time. Besides," she added with a little grin "I didn't need your help. I would have defeated Amaterasu eventually. It was only a matter of time before I completely and utterly _destroyed_ her."

Ninetails shifted uneasily and said, "That's not the point, mistress. The point is that the poncle remains free. There is no telling the damage she will do. We _must_ capture her. That poncle Issun won't talk unless we torment his daughter."

Ninetails mistress waved it aside. "It's all right, I sent the spider queen to investigate. Whoever is protecting the poncle will be in for a nasty shock. Ten to one it's that oh-so-full-of-himself Oina warrior...was it Oki?"

Ninetails didn't look convinced. "I do hope you know what you're talking about. I would hope that the Spider Queen does not fail in her mission...Lady Amaterasu."

A wolf, teeth bared, emerged into the light. Her fur was the color of midnight black, which almost obscured the spot of ink on her tail. This fur formed strange whorls of fur around her shoulders, as well as the tip of her tail. Markings the color of blood decorated her fur, forming patterns almost similar to those of the brush gods. Her eyes were a dark purple, and a disk shaped like the sun floated above her back, glowing with blue flame.

"I TOLD YOU TO NEVER CALL ME THAT!" Amaterasu yelled, flicking her tail as a large explosion hit the fox in the head.

"All right, all right," Ninetails said, backing off, not even phased by the explosion. "I'll go do something 'productive' while you await news of the Spider Queen."

Amaterasu calmed, though only slightly. "You had better," she said through gritted teeth, "or next time I see you, things will be very...unpleasant."

Ninetails just rolled his eyes, and walked through the ring of fire-unharmed-towards the deeper regions of the cave, leaving Amaterasu to her pacing.

 **A short chapter this time, but really, what else is there to say? Amaterasu has somehow become corrupted, Issun (still dislike him) is captured, and the Spider Queen is on the hunt once more…**

 **Also, just a heads up, I won't be able to get much done these next two weeks, I'm going to busy most days, so just hang in there!**

 **Once again, please don't judge me because of the "humor", it's just the way my mind works, I find little "quirks", I guess, to slip into my writing. As always, please review!**

 **Oh, and in case you couldn't tell, I'm a HUUUUUUGE (Trump got nothin' on me! Sorry, couldn't resist ;) ) Zelda fan. Love Breath of the Wild! Kinda reminds me of Majora's mask in some ways. You will probably see some influences of the game in my writing (Breath of the Wild, I mean. Majora's mask is kinda** _ **duhh**_ **). That's all for now, so have a good night!**

 **P. S.: I'm not kidding about feelings not being hurt in reviews. Fire away! Part of the reason I'm writing this is to become a better writer.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: I appreciate the people who have taken the time to read this story and even more those who have favorited and followed it. Thank you.**

 **Now, I believe that it's high time that we see what Oki's up to, don't you think?**

 **Disclaimer: I own neither The Legend of Zelda nor Okami.**

Oki struggled up yet _another_ hill as he traced the scent he had been following for the past couple of hours. Or had it been days? Oki had lost track extremely quickly, but it sure _felt_ like he had been hiking over hills of snow for days. At least the blizzard had stopped…

Oki panted heavily as he continued to hike up the steep hill. He used a lot of energy galloping up hills at top speeds in a vain attempt to catch up to the hero. Oki had picked up the aroma of a horse a little while ago, which explained the pace that the hero was somehow managing to maintain. At least now the scent was getting stronger, so hopefully he was getting closer.

Oki took a few more steps before his strength gave out, and he collapsed, as a human, face first into the snow. Groaning, he flipped over, taking deep breaths as he examined the sky above. He was so thirsty it wasn't even funny. He slowly reached for the canteen on his waist, fumbling to unfasten it. Fighting the urge to gulp the whole thing down, he took small mouthfuls of water, groaning as he shifted his aching muscles.

He allowed himself a short break, taking a moment to actually enjoy his surroundings, relaxing in the peaceful stillness of winter. It was hard to believe that just a few months earlier, he had been a loud, boastful fool who had rushed into fights without a moment's thought. It was amazing what losing a boss fight could do for a person…

Oki sighed, climbing to his feet and reverted back to his wolf form, refreshed, then groaned as he once more struggled to reach the peak. Once he did, he realized that the hero's scent was fresh! Excited, he turned back into a human and scanned the area below.

When he saw the horse, he felt like jumping into the air and letting out a loud whoop. He'd finally caught up with the hero!

But as he looked closer, he saw a boy dressed in green, lying face up in the snow, unmoving. His heart jumped. Was the boy okay? How long had he been lying there? And where was the hero to lend a helping hand?

Oki raced down the hill as fast as he possibly could. As he neared the kid, he noticed a glowing blue dot bouncing up and down on the boy's chest.

Oki silently groaned. _Oh no._ It appeared that a poncle had found the boy first.

Steeling himself for an encounter, Oki approached with his arms held high, to show that he meant no harm, although things were about to get ugly either way. Poncles had the tendency to overreact to pretty much everything (or at least they did around Oki).

Sure enough, as the poncle caught sight of him, she (Oki knew it was a she because it was wearing a dress) immediately began speaking in all caps, causing Oki to wince. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? SPEAK NOW OR FACE MY BLADE!" she shouted, waving around a tiny sword that looked like it could give some pretty nasty cuts.

Oki winced, resisting the urge to cover his ears. For such a small creature, she seemed capable of bursting eardrums up to a kilometer away. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Oki said, with a bit of apathy "I could ask you the same thing."

The poncle stopped her furious bouncing, and took a moment to roll her eyes before bouncing up and down again. "Yeah, you could, but that doesn't explain why YOU'RE here. But since you asked so NICELY" the poncle took a moment to glare at Oki, who muttered something under his breath, "I'll tell you. I just saved this here boy" she gestured with her hands, "from a band of the meanest looking imps you could imagine! And I did it only with a _little_ bit of help from the one and only _Issun_!" she exclaimed, puffing out her chest, as if that would make her seem more important than she was.

It didn't.

Oki just stared at her, a confused look plastered across his face. "Who-son?"

The poncle, shocked, stared at him open-mouthed in the middle of one of her jumps. When she came down, she landed wrong, causing her to slip off the child's body and fall face-first into the snow. As he watched her struggle, Oki suddenly burst into a coughing fit.

The poncle finally managed to stand up, glaring at Oki, who managed to at least look repentant. As she dusted snow off herself, she spoke, " _Issun_ is only the greatest poncle to have ever lived! He traveled with the great Amaterasu in search of the brush gods and helped her to find five of them!".

Oki still had no idea who the poncle was talking about, but there was something that bothered him, "If this poncle was so great, why couldn't he have prevented Amaterasu from going missing?"

The poncle (who still remained nameless) looked at Oki with such a fierceness that he almost started sweating, growling "Amaterasu, Issun's friend, betrayed him without a second thought. She is extremely powerful, as I'm sure you know, and overpowered him easily. No one has seen Amaterasu nor Issun for several years, and it is my job to find where they hide. No matter the cost!"

The poncle's face suddenly became pleasant. "Also, Hi! My name is Proxi! Who are you and what are _you_ doing here.

Oki's head was spinning. It didn't help that Proxi had suddenly experienced a wild mood swing either. According to poncle, it seemed that Amaterasu, goddess of the sun, was _evil_. Not only that, but it seemed that she had stolen the one chance anyone had of finding her. All his life, he had imagined Amaterasu to be something like Shiranui from the old stories. Kind, brave, strong, perhaps _warm and sunny?_

It took him several moments for Oki to realize that Proxi had asked a question. "OH...I'm Oki, and I was searching for a hero to help me rescue the su...um, someone."

Probably not the best idea to reveal that he was trying to find and rescue her hero's kidnapper.

Proxi smiled pleasantly up at him. "Well, _I'm_ a hero, who is it that needs rescuing? Your mother? Your sister? Perhaps your secret crush?"

"Umm… I was kind of looking for someone else, maybe someone a little...taller?" Oki didn't want to offend the poncle, but he really needed to find the hero. They wouldn't just leave their horse with a random kid unconscious in the snow.

Proxi suddenly started to glow red, "Are you doubting my ability?"

Oki wanted this to be over as fast of possible, so he simply said, "Yes."

Proxi suddenly launched into a fit of anger, "WELL, LET ME TELL YOU, BOY! JUST BECAUSE I'M SMALLER THAN YOUR AVERAGE HERO DOESN'T MAKE ME ANY LESS OF ONE!"

"Look, it was a giant fifty foot monster and…"

"SO WHAT!? I'VE FOUGHT MORE THAN MY FAIR SHARE OF GIANT MONSTERS! HOW MANY GOBLINS HAVE YOU BEATEN, _OKI!_ "

"It was _way_ bigger than a goblin, and…"

"WELL, THE BIGGER THEY ARE, THE HARDER THEY FALL!"

As they continued on like this, neither one of them heard Epona let out a whiny as the boy on the ground began to stir.

 **Author's Note: Sorry about the wait, I was busy with work and a few...unexpected...issues. It took me a little bit to remember how to write, and even then, I still need to rediscover a few things.**

 **I'll try to do better, but it may take a while. Sorry, one little fire (long story, and it wasn't even my fault. It's not as bad as it sounds and I wasn't there...really. I just saw the smoke) and suddenly you can't remember how to enthrall your readers (hint: interesting chapters and characters). I apologize if it's short. I need to take a moment to be Link.**

 **As always, please review, and sorry again :(**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: I feel like I'm doing a better job writing as Link, mostly because I have a good view of the character, and I've mostly written as him. So… Let's do this**

 **Disclaimer: I own neither Okami nor Legend of Zelda.**

 _Link awoke to the sound of people arguing. He groaned as he sat up, rubbing his ears while he checked his inventory. Epona stood over him, gently nuzzling him once she saw he was awake. Link patted her affectionately back as he took out his map. He found it interesting that this land was made up of two larger islands and several smaller ones._

 _As he studied the main island, several icons appeared. Link was a little surprised to see that one of the icons looked like him, but not very surprised. Maps back at home worked the same way for him._

Hello, Link _. Link jerked up, looking around for the source of the voice._ It's Yomigami, _the voice continued,_ I'm contacting you telepathically, through the map. As you have noticed, several icons mark the map. The one shaped like you is, obviously, you. The golden dot heading toward your position is the known location of one of the brush gods. _Link nodded in understanding. Both of the icons were on the smaller of the populated islands, located slightly northwest off the larger island. His was stationary, but, like Yomigami said, the golden dot was moving toward him at a quick pace._

This is quite odd, _Yomigami continued, slightly troubled._ From what we can tell, it's Nuregami, but she seems...changed. Brush Gods normally have a pleasant aura, but Nuregami's just feels...evil. Please be careful Link. _Link nodded once more, glancing once at the direction Nuregami was coming at him, and tucked his map away. He moved over to Epona, and for the first time noticed the two who were arguing._

 _Near where he had been standing a moment before, the tiny woman whose papers he had saved was bouncing up and down, screaming at the top of her lungs. Across from her, a teenager with a mane of reddish hair appeared to be trying to calm her down. He wore a blue mask shaped like a wolf's head, and had a silver sword slung across his back. The strange thing about him, however, was that despite the snow everywhere, he was dressed as though it were summer, with a short sleeve red-and-blue kimono, that stopped at his knees. At least he had the sense to wear boots… sort of._

 _Link just shrugged and turned back to Epona. Normally he would offer to help, but Nuregami (who was she?) was approaching quickly, and he wanted to find the higher ground, so to speak, just in case things got ugly._

 _As he mounted up, the teenager finally noticed him. "HEY! KID! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" At this, the tiny woman (well, actually, she was more of an older teenager) turned around, yelling "KID, LET'S HAVE A TALK!"_

 _Link winced, sighing as he slid off Epona. Hopefully this wouldn't take too long…_

Oki stared at the boy as he slid off the horse. The boy was certainly strange; he looked to be about twelve, with blonde hair and startling blue eyes (Oki suddenly felt uncomfortable). He wore a green tunic, brown boots, an odd green cap, and several pouches around his waist. Strapped to the boy's back was a large sword and a shield modeled after a screaming face. Oki shivered just looking at it. Who would wear such a horrible thing?

The horse, even more surprising to Oki, followed the boy as he approached. Was this really the hero destined to save Nippon?

Oki shook his head. The very idea was ridiculous. The boy looked barely old enough to wield the sword on his back, much less save the world.

"That your horse?" he asked, gesturing to the young mare trailing behind the boy. She had a rusty red coat and a snow white mane, as well as soft brown eyes that showed intelligence. It made Oki never want to harm an animal as long as he lived.

The boy nodded, rubbing the mare's nose affectionately. Oki frowned from underneath his mask, pondering what this meant. The scent of the hero had been mingled with the horse, so Oki put two and two together (finally) and realized that this meant that the boy was the hero. Oki was a little surprised, but he should have known.

Oki leaned back, sighed, and asked "Are you a hero?" because it never hurt to make sure.

The boy started to shake his head, paused, and nodded, a little sheepishly. Typical response for a hero. They don't think that they do anything memorable, even if it they save the world.

Oki smiled, and held out his arm. "I'm Oki. What's your name? And how much experience do you have?" He asked, perhaps a bit ecstatic. "Because we need a hero, a SPECTACULAR hero."

Oki rushed forward excitedly. This was the end of Nippon's troubles! He was so excited he didn't realize how crazy he must have looked until the kid-the hero-pulled out his sword and brandished it in front of him.

Oki slid to a stop, embarrassed at his reaction. "Sorry about that," he said, a little sheepishly, "It's just...we've waited for a hero for five long years. I'll fill you in later, but...WOW. I just can't believe it."

At this point, Proxi the poncle turned red and started yelling again. "ARE YOU INSINUATING THAT I'M NOT A HERO!?"

Oki sighed, and turned to face her, "No, I just don't think that you can handle something as big as this."

"SO YOU THINK I'M JUST ONE OF THOSE 'SMALL' HEROS?!"

"...yes?"

"WELL, LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, JUST BECAUSE I'M SHORT IN STATURE DOESN'T MEAN I'M A LESS COMPETENT HERO!"

"...I never said that."

"WELL YOU IMPLIED IT YOU BIG JERK!"

"...now that's going too far."

 _Watching the two strange characters argue, Link couldn't help but smile; he'd met some strange people, but so far, these two were contending for the award for "Weirdest character", even up with Tingle!_

 _Link let out a small laugh as he sheathed his sword and pulled out his map. As he did so, his spirits suddenly plummeted, causing him to pull out the Lens of Truth and frantically wave it around._

 _He had a bad feeling that the missing brush gods and the sudden abundance of monsters were connected, and he also thought he knew what it was. He had seen several puzzle pieces, hidden in Yomigami's story, the final piece of the puzzle right in front of him._

 _The brush god/goddess' mark overlapped his own, and there was no sign of a divine being in sight._

 _A loud rumbling, the earth shaking, Link dove aside just in time, as the ground exploded underneath him._

 **Author's Note: Sorry about how long this chapter took to get out. It was more dull than I expected. I will try to get better; this next chapter will hopefully allow me to get some of my old hype back. I have some ideas for other stories, most of them LoZ and Okami crossovers, so I might try to work on one of those for a bit. Let me know if you'd like to hear them!**

 **(I feel so ashamed at the quality of my work right now)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: So… I hate cliffhangers as much as anyone else, so...let's get to it?**

 **Disclaimer: I own neither The Legend of Zelda nor Okami.**

 _Link scrambled to his feet and turned to face the being who not moments before had exploded out of the ground not moments before. It was a giant spider, as big as a house, and a truly horrifying sight. The abdomen was a giant flower bud, but the top part was that of a woman. She had eight arms, blue skin, black hair, and a terrifying mouth of razor sharp teeth. She wore a tattered kimono and a scary grin. She didn't appear to have any eyes, at least not any that he could see._

 _Link glanced at the people who had been arguing (was it Proxi and Oki?). Proxi had hidden behind Oki and was trembling in fright. Oki seemed to be paralyzed by fear, clenching his fists so hard that his knuckles were white._

 _Link turned his attention back to the spider, who was now cackling with delight. "So," she hissed, "These are the 'heroes' who've managed defeat one little squadron of imps, and I'm surprised you even managed THAT!" She roared with laughter, causing Proxi to cower a bit more._

 _Link pulled out his sword, then reached into his inventory to equip Divine Retribution. Small tongues of flames rose from it, warming his body and further strengthening his resolve._

 _The spider just laughed. "Well, well, well," she said turning her attention to the shield Link wore, "It seems as though you've found a little toy to play with."_

 _Oki glanced at Link, noticed Divine Retribution, and his eyes widened in surprise. "How did you…" he started to ask, but was interrupted by a roar from the spider, causing Oki to freeze in terror once more._

" _IT MATTERS NOT!" the spider screamed excitedly. "I AM THE SPIDER QUEEN, AND I AM HERE TO CRUSH YOU OFF THE FACE OF NIPPON!" At this she lunged forward towards Link, who had covered his ears._

 _Link reacted quickly, dodging out of the way and slashing one of the Spider Queen's arms, quickly darting toward Epona, keeping his eyes on the Spider Queen. She laughed, and lashed out with one of her hands, her claw-like nails stained a deep red, to try and retaliate. Link took the blow on Divine Retribution. The force from the impact sent him staggering back, and caused the flames around Divine Retribution to grow higher and brighter. Link hurried to Epona, jumping on and urging her into a gallop._

 _Thinking quickly, he pulled out his bow and launched an ice arrow at one of the Spider Queen's hands, hoping to immobilize it. It encased the entire hand in ice, but the Spider Queen simply laughed and said "You think that'll stop ME?!". She slammed the frozen fist into the ground, shattering it with one hit._

 _The Spider Queen shifted her attention towards Oki and Proxi, hoping to get a hit in before they came to their senses. As she lifted her arm to strike, however, Link darted in with Epona, slashing with his sword and deflecting the arm into the nearby snow. A second arm went for Epona, but Link bashed it aside with Divine Retribution, jumping off Epona and sent her galloping to safety._

 _Link stared down the Spider Queen, hoping Proxi and Oki would be able to regain enough self control to run away in the time that he distracted the Queen._

 _She screeched at him, with a high pitched voice, "FOOLISH MORTAL! I WAS ONLY TOYING WITH YOU! BUT NOW I WILL SHOW NO MERCY!"_

 _With a screech loud enough to break glass, the Queen created several glowing purple orbs and sent them sailing towards Link. He was able to jump out of the way, but when he tried to hit an orb back at the Spider Queen, it exploded with dark energy, sending him flying back into the snow._

 _The Spider Queen moved quickly, shrieking triumphantly as she reared up, preparing to slam Link into a mush pulp. Link tried to scramble backward, holding Divine Retribution in the vague hope it would shield him. Right as the Queen was about to slam down, a vine appeared out of nowhere, latching on to the Queen's abdomen, dragging her backward, away from Link, as a pair of arms pulled him away from behind. It was Oki!_

 _As Link was dragged away, a flailing arm almost hit Link and Oki as they scrambled backward, luckily Link was able to knock it aside with the reflector. Suddenly, Divine Retribution broke into several pieces, floating off of Link's arm. They floated a little to Link's left, where the pieces reformed Divine Retribution, the top of it facing the Spider Queen. Stunned, Oki dropped Link in the snow, staring at Divine Retribution in wonder. Link scrambled to his feet, keeping one eye on the Spider Queen and another on Divine Retribution, curious to see what would happen next._

 _It was then that he realized that Proxi was nowhere to be seen, but he suddenly heard her voice cry out: "HURRY! HIT DIVINE RETRIBUTION! AS HARD AS YOU CAN!"_

 _Link figured that Proxi knew what she was talking about, so after he glanced first at Oki, who nodded, then the Spider Queen, who had managed to shake off the vine and looked like she was stunned (she was about twenty feet away), he gripped his sword tightly with both hands, charged up as if he were going for a spin attack, and with a loud "HYAH!" loosed a blow strong enough to send a Wolfos flying._

 _The blow connected directly with Divine Retribution, causing it to glow a deep red. Then suddenly, a wall of flame split from Divine Retribution, completely engulfing the Spider Queen and melting every patch of snow nearby. Divine Retribution broke into several pieces, which then reformed around Link's arm. The Spider Queen screeched in pain, and her enormous abdomen fell on top of her upper half, opening up to reveal an enormous flower, with several eyes clustered in the center of the blossom._

 _Proxi came from seemingly out of nowhere, jumping onto Link's cap, shrieking "NOW! ATTACK THE EYES!" Link nodded and jumped onto an enormous pedal, slashing with his sword with such a speed that made him only visible as a blur. Oki jumped on too, slashing with his sword with such fury that made Link glad he and Oki were on the same side._

 _When they felt the Spider Queen stir, both lept off as the petal closed, shutting just as they landed in the snow. Oki turned to Link "How many eyes did you get?"_

 _During the slice and dice battle on the petal, Link had noticed that once you hit the eyes a certain number of times, they shriveled up and blackened, and the Spider Queen let out a roar of pain. It took quite a bit of hits to get this to happen, and he hadn't gotten that many before he was forced to jump off. Link held up two fingers._

 _Oki nodded. "Nice," he said, sounding a bit impressed. "I only got one, they're surprisingly tough for eyeballs."_

 _He turned to Proxi. "That was great what you did with the vine thing, how did you do that?"_

 _Proxi looked a little embarrassed. "The poncles have a weaker version of the Celestial Brush. It was given to us by Shiranui, y' know, as a token of friendship." Here, her blue-ish glow changed to a shade of crimson red. "I...uh...kinda borrowed it so I could seek out the brush gods and learn their techniques. I found the first five...well, technically seven if you count the monkey's separate...anyway, that...vine thing I did, was a brush technique called Vine."_

 _Oki seemed deeply impressed now. "Then, how did you know that was its weakness?"_

 _Proxi turned a deeper shade of red. "I also took Issun's journal. It had an entry about the Spider Queen, and described in detail how to defeat it." She mumbled. "But it requires two vines to hold her down and expose the weak point, so it's not much use, unless either of you know any brush work."_

 _Oki shook his head, and looked at Link. Link had no idea what this "brushwork" may be, but it both looked and sounded powerful. That vine reminded him of something, however. He reached into his inventory, dug around a little bit, and grunted in triumph as he pulled out his hookshot._

 _The Spider Queen chose that very moment to let out a screech of anger as she recovered. "HOW DARE YOU! I WILL CRUSH YOU LIKE THE BUGS YOU ARE!" A small dribble of what looked like ink leaked from the corner of her mouth, and she looked slightly worse for wear._

 _She shot a web at Oki, who dove to one side. When he came up, he yelled "OH YEAH, WELL YOU'LL HAVE TO CATCH ME FIRST!" The Spider Queen snarled, and snarled "TRY DODGING THIS!" and summoned an egg like object from seemingly nowhere._

 _Time seemed to stop for Link, and a brush stroke was painted over the egg. Time resumed, and the egg exploded, causing the Queen to shriek and lay crushed by her enormous abdomen, stunned. Link was stunned. This brush was_ extremely _powerful, and he felt lucky to have Proxi on his side._

 _Time stopped once more, and this time a straight line snagged a hook on the abdomen of the Spider Queen. When time resumed, a vine snagged the hook and attached to the end of Proxi's brush. Link, who still had Proxi on his cap, aimed his hookshot at another hook, and fired._

 _The hook latched onto the hook, digging his heels in, he gritted his teeth and tried to pull resist being pulled forward. He was still moving forward at an alarming rate, however. Groaning with effort, he reached into his inventory and pulled out a mask. Without much room for thinking, he shoved it on his face, groaning in pain as the effects of transformation took place._

 _After the painful transformation, Link was able to easily fight the pull of the hookshot, and the bud opened._

 _Goron Link smiled in triumph as the eyes were revealed once more. He stood taller than the average man, with a hard, bulky and rocky exterior. His long hair and beard were snow white, spiked three ways, with sideburns connecting the hair and beard. He only wore a green loincloth and his green cap. The sight of him alone would make most people and monsters run, crying for their mothers._

 _Both Oki, who had been growling threateningly at the Spider Queen, and Proxi, who still sat on his hat, were staring at Link, jaws dropped. Oki quickly recovered, springing up on the flower and slashing two more eyes before the flower closed._

 _While she recovered, Oki turned to Goron Link, and exclaimed "I didn't know you could do that! What else can you do?"_

 _Link smiled. Tucking a protesting Proxi into his cap, he turned to face the Spider Queen and curled into a ball, rolling straight at the Spider Queen. As he did so, the air around Goron Link began to blur, becoming a tinted red. After a few moments, spikes appeared on his hard, rocky skin, and he shot forward at an amazing speed._

 _He went right under the Spider Queen, jumping up just as soon as he was past, quickly took aim and snagged one of the hooks with his hookshot. Holding it with one hand, he fumbled to take his hat off with the other. When he finally managed to succeed, Proxi tumbled out, a little dazed, but not any worse for the wear._

 _She recovered almost immediately, and used her brush to grab another hook. The Spider Queen fell once more, and Oki lept up to slash the eyes once more. He hacked away as fiercely as he could, destroying two of the eyes. As he turned to attack the last one, however, the bud suddenly closed around him._

 _Proxi's grip had slipped, and the sudden jerk had caused the hookshot to slip out, leaving the Spider Queen free to recover. When Oki disappeared into the abdomen, Proxi jumped off Link's head, screaming "HEY! GIVE HIM BACK!"_

 _The abdomen jiggled a few times, then gave a large heave. Oki tumbled out, unconscious and covered in slime. At the sight of Oki, helpless and lying in the snow, Link felt a familiar rage burning in his chest. Proxi hopped to Oki as the Spider Queen rose to her feet._

" _An impressive show" she said, panting, as she rose to her feet. She smiled and said "But now it's time to say goodnight!"_

 _She launched strands of webs at Oki and Proxi. Proxi reached for her brush, but before she could react, Link leapt in front of her, tearing through the web, easy as if it were paper. Marching forward, he punched the astonished Spider Queen in the face, sending her reeling backward. She quickly recovered, only to once more receive a fist of rock to the face. She collapsed in a heap._

 _Link advanced forward, arm poised to deliver another crushing blow, but stopped, staring in amazement at the Spider Queen's face. Oddly enough, the Spider Queen did nothing to take advantage of Link's sudden vulnerability. She just stared up at Link, a black, inky like substance dribbling out of the corner of her mouth._

 _Proxi watched with some impatience. "HEY, Kid! Just finish her off already!"_

 _That snapped Link out of his stupor. But instead of delivering the finishing blow, he pulled out a set off drums and began to play a beautiful song._

 **Sorry, I'm not dead. I just needed some time to relax. I apologize for the long wait. I will try to do better, but I will be completely unable to do anything for a month. I still have about a week until the fun begins, so I'll try to get at least one chapter done before then, hopefully more.**

 **Until then, I wish you all the best of luck.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Okay, I'm back, finally! I apologize for being gone so long. I've just had a really busy month. Hopefully I can do better with updates, but for now, let's do this!**

 **Disclaimer: I own neither The Legend of Zelda nor Okami.**

Time seemed to stop as Goron Link hammered away on his drums, ironically creating a sweet, soothing melody that seemed to echo through the bright and snowy hills. Proxi gasped as she felt power flow through her. It refreshed her, soothing her aches and pains until they were no more. The power flowed into her brush, replenishing her ink almost immediately. Beneath her, Oki's eyes flew open and he struggled to sit up. The liquid that had covered him had vanished completely, and he looked good as new.

Link himself was slowly reverting back to his true form, slowly transitioning from drums to a sky blue instrument shaped a bit like a potato. Somehow he made it work, but Proxi doubted that she could go from playing percussion to a wind instrument without making a mess out of the whole thing.

As soon as Link had finished transforming from rock-man to elf-boy, the Spider Queen started to change. It was gradual at first, her skin grew a shade lighter, perhaps. But then the changes became rapid and noticeable. Her arms sucked into her body. Her skin hardened into scales and turned white. Her hair shrank back and formed two large scales in a swirled pattern. Red markings appeared on the forehead and neck, which thickened. The large flower bulb opened, expelling a dark, inky figure before rapidly closing and hardening into a translucent sphere, pulling the changing body of the Spider Queen inside. The bulb filled with water, formed a large round flask, and rose a bit off the cold snowy ground.

When all was said and done, a large white snake, with the red markings that marked her as a godly being. She gave out one final spasm, and a small, inky creature was expelled from her, shooting through the glass of the flask and landing in the snow.

It had recognizable arms and legs as well as a head, but was made of an inky black material that ran off in small rivulets. It had no recognizable face, and was roughly about the size of a cat. It was like several bottles of ink had come to life and mashed together to form a lumpy humanoid form.

Link walked over to it, drew his sword, and stabbed it through the still figure. It let out a strange, unearthly cry, and exploded into millions of drops of ink, staining the snow black. With that, attention shifted from the snow to the large snake floating in a flask of water.

 _Link stared in awe at the large snake. He had seen snakes (or ropes) numerous times trekking through both Hyrule and Termina, but he had never heard of them getting so big. It had to be at least fifty feet in length, maybe even more. Link felt a little intimidated._

 _The snake began trying to push out the cork in the bottle, but despite what appeared to be a herculean effort, the cork remained fully in place. Finally giving up, the snake focused her (Link didn't know how he could tell, he just could) attention on Link._

" _Hello, little hero," she began, "I am Nuregami, brush goddess of the technique water spout." She moved a little closer, appearing to assess Link in depth. "I can't thank you enough for freeing me from that dreaded monster." Somehow her voice rang loud and clear through the flask. "I am happy to help you in any way that I can."_

 _Link nodded, and as he did so, Proxi (who had hopped onto Link's after making sure Oki was okay) asked, in the humblest, quietest voice Link had ever heard. "If I may be so bold, may I learn your brush technique?"_

 _Nuregami looked at her in surprise. "Of course, young poncle! I would be happy to teach you!" At this, Proxi jumped up and down in excitement "REALLY? THAT'S GREAT!"_

 _Proxi jumped off Link's shoulder, and Link wandered over to where Oki was struggling to his feet. Offering his hand, Link pulled Oki to his feet as easily as he could lift a rock._

 _Oki was a little startled, but made a show of brushing himself off, then turned to Link._

" _Hey, uh… thanks for what you did back there." Oki said, averting eye contact and scuffing his boot against the snow. "Umm…. sorry I wasn't a better help."_

 _Link fought off a sudden surge of anger. He felt that sometimes people looked him and all they saw was a small defenseless child. He knew it was a logical assumption, but Link had accomplished more things than most adults had. He probably wouldn't have had such a hard time if he didn't remember his time as an adult. Often during battles Link would be frustrated by his lack of strength, remembering the days when he could take out a Wolfros in two hits._

 _But it wasn't Oki's fault really, and Oki did call Link a hero just before they met the Spider Queen. Maybe Oki was just frustrated at his own shortcomings. So Link just pushed away his anger, making an "it's fine" gesture._

 _Oki seemed relieved, and was about to say something when there was a sudden WHOOSH! cut him off. Oki and Link turned toward it and found Proxi, jumping with glee, at the top of a pillar of water that rose about five feet in the air. Nuregami floated nearby, shaking her head in amusement._

 _Oki seemed surprised when he saw Nuregami "Is that…"_

 _Link nodded._

 _Oki seemed to grin. It was a little hard to tell with the mask in the way._

 _They walked over to Nuregami just as Proxi's geyser disappeared and she dropped lightly onto the snow. Oki bowed in greeting, but Nuregami just smiled_

" _Please, there's no need for that" she said, smiling as Oki straightened, "After all, you're the ones who saved me from that horrible creature" she said, nodding at the ink stained snow._

 _Oki gave off an involuntary shudder "What_ were _those things anyway?"_

 _Nuregami frowned, deep in thought. "I believe they are called_ Inkblights" _she said. "They were created by Amaterasu to track down and enslave the Brush Gods, turning them into monsters. They can be controlled by her, and I believe_ she's _the one who's creating the monsters."_

 _Both Oki and Proxi started at that. As for Link, he just sighed. Hadn't he just come across this situation? And he did_ NOT _want another skull kid situation. It was just...no. It was_ TERRIBLE _for others to do that to others. As he thought that, he felt his bag go heavier; the pieces of the mask almost mocking him. He swore he could hear that laugh echo through the chilled air. He shuddered, and it wasn't because of the cold_

 _Then he realized Nuregami was talking to him. She was looking at him expectantly. Link blushed, and looked at the ground._

" _Oh, don't be modest!" she exclaimed. "Surely there must be something I can do for you."_

 _Link looked up, a bit relieved. He thought for a moment. What could he ask from a snake goddess? He started rummaging through his items, wondering if there was something he could upgrade. Then his hands closed on another of his masks. Startled, he reached further and grasped a fish-scale. He smiled, then pulled out the scale, gesturing first to Nuregami, then the scale._

 _She looked startled. "You want one of my scales?" She asked, a little surprised._

 _Link nodded, then pulled out a mask and put it on. Within a few painful seconds, he was a Zora, a half-man, half fish creature covered in blue scales. Again, the only thing he wore was a green loincloth, no hat. Shivering a bit from the cold, Zora-Link stretched out his hand._

 _Nuregami sighed, struggled a bit, phased through the flask and into Zora-Link's hand. As soon as it touched him, there was a blinding flash of light, and suddenly, Link felt extremely powerful._

Oki and Proxi stared in shock. They had been shocked when Link had turned into a fish-man, of course, but now they were _shocked_. The fish-man's scales, once a pleasant blue, were now white and red, forming the patterns of a brush god. The eyes, once blacker than the depths of the ocean, were now colored amber. Other than that, he looked pretty much the same, except that two fins, attached to his forearms, were now bigger and much scarier, one a grayish blue and the other a faded green.

Zora-Link smiled. He quickly jerked his arm down, and the snow erupted into water, catapulting Zora-Link high into the air, where he pulled off an impressive series of backflips, before landing skillfully in the snow several meters behind the pillar of water.

Straightening, he waved his arm again and the pillar collapsed, washing some more snow away.

Proxi and Oki were unable to speak, move or do anything. They just stared, utterly stupefied.

Nuregami just laughed. "Looks like you won't be needing a five minute hand-holding session while I explain how to use my scale extremely slowly. Anything else you need?"

Link, who had pulled out a map, shook his head, but Oki finally regained his composure, and asked: "Can you tell us where to go?"

Nuregami smiled, and said "I think your fish-friend Link can help you with that. Anything else?"

Oki glanced over the map. A large dot in the rough shape of a minotaur was traveling towards Kamiki Village through Shinshu field. Oki assumed that the minotaur was the next brush god, but they were in the Northern lands. As far as Oki knew, all the gateways to Easter Nippon had been sealed off, so he stated the obvious.

"We're going to need a bridge." he said.

Nuregami nodded. "I expected as much" she said. "When you approach the shore, I'll create a water bridge, then collapse it when you're halfway across. Sound good?"

All three nodded.

"Good!" Nuregami exclaimed. "I'm off to contact my fellow brush gods. I'm sure they're missing me!" she said, and dissolved into golden dust.

Link folded up his map and took off his mask. He pulled out his ocarina and called his horse back to him.

When Link mounted up, Proxi jumped onto his hat. Oki, already a bit tired, said "Let's get to East Nippon and set up camp. After all this, I don't want to sleep on snow for a long while."

The other two nodded. Satisfied, Oki turned back into a wolf, and together they headed South towards the sea.

 **Author's note: Sorry once more about the long wait. Hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things soon, but until then just bear with me, please.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello, me again. And yes, I did just make Zora Link a god. Sort of like Fierce Deity, except combined with a Zora. I'll get into the details later, but now it's time to get acquainted with the bad guys!**

 **Also, ignore the cringe-worthy attempt at a stab at Skyward Sword. I shudder just thinking about it. Sorry :(.**

 **Disclaimer: I own neither The Legend of Zelda nor Okami.**

Amaterasu growled in frustration as she paced back and forth in the dungeon cave. Ninetails, hovering nearby, was somewhat amused.

"I did ask you to send me, Amaterasu." He said, holding back a grin. Despite the fact that Amaterasu was angry enough to start throwing her weight around (figuratively speaking), he couldn't resist reminding Amaterasu that she only had herself to blame for this startling turn of events.

Then again, they were both villains. Underestimating heroes is what they did best.

Amaterasu glared at Ninetails, who met her stare with an equal fire of his own. The staring contest went on for a couple of minutes, until Ninetails was forced to back down.

Amaterasu grinned in this small triumph, then continued to glare at Ninetails.

"Alright then, smarty," she growled, never taking her eyes off him, "What would you do to catch these so-called-heroes, who have made a mess of everything?"

Ninetails thought long and hard about the question; now was not the time for sarcasm. He liked his head right where it was.

"Well," he began, "I think at this point the best course of action would be to send the demon hordes after them. No hero could stand up to their might for very long."

Amaterasu nodded. It was a reasonable suggestion. The hordes consisted mainly of the weaker, green imps, who were so numerous it was like the sands of the sea. They were led by a black imp, whose only priority was to find the imps a target. Green imps were much easier to create, but they were also weak when produced in large numbers, so they relied on numbers to overwhelm their foes. A small party of two or three individuals wouldn't stand a chance.

But for some reason, she didn't find that to be the best course of action. She couldn't quite put her paw on it, but she felt that it would be a little...barbaric?

 _What was she THINKING!_

Amaterasu shook her head. "It's a good idea, Ninetails," she said returning to her frantic pacing.

"Let me think about it for a little while."

Ninetails was startled. This was unlike the Amaterasu he was familiar with. Normally by now she would have summoned every monster at her disposal to track down the insolent heroes who dared defy her.

"But, Amaterasu…"

"NINETAILS, CAN'T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE FOR LIKE FIVE SECONDS?"

Ninetails rolled his eyes; there she was.

"Yes, Amaterasu."

Ninetails' pawsteps faded as he padded deeper into the cave. As soon as he disappeared, Amaterasu let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

She shook her head. What was she thinking? Ninetails was a friend, not an enemy, no matter how much he acted the part.

She unsheathed her claws, finding small imperfections on the rock slab on which she continued to pace.

Glancing down, she gaped in shock at what she saw. Her claws, once stained red with the blood of her enemies, were now a deep black, the color of ink. Worse, the tufts of fur at the tips of her paws, instead of black like the darkest part of the night, were starting to turn snow white.

And she could feel something inside her, struggling to get out.

Something...calm? Peaceful?

She growled. That did it. Her mind was made up. No more acting soft. Those heroes were the ones responsible for what was happening to her, and they must be destroyed before anything else happened to her. She howled, causing some of the torches, scattered every few feet along the cave walls, to flicker.

Ninetails heard Amaterasu howl, and smiled. It seemed she had finally made up her mind.

He padded back to Amaterasu and dipped his head in respect.

"So…"

"Send out the hordes. I don't want any survivors."

Ninetails smiled. "As you wish."

He turned to leave, happening to glance at her paws as he did. But before he could see anything, Amaterasu had turned and started to storm away.

"Are you alright?" He called after her.

"I'm FINE." She growled back. "And I'd be a lot more than fine if you would DESTROY A COUPLE OF MEASLY HEROES!"

Ninetails rolled his eyes and stormed away. He didn't know why he should care about the well being of Amaterasu. It wasn't like he cared _that_ much about "friends".

Did he?

 **I apologize if it sounds like I'm trying to pair Ninetails with Ammy. That wasn't really my intent.**

 **Next chapter I'm back to Link. I'll finish as soon as I can, but I can't promise it'll be soon. So for now, adieu.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi. Sorry the last chapter was so short. I guess I need to work on that.**

 **Anyway, it's finally here! Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I own neither the Legend of Zelda nor Okami.**

" _HIYAH!"_

 _Another imp went flying as Link slammed his sword into it's monkey-like body. Epona slid to a sudden stop and reared up to kick another imp, who barely had enough time to dodge out of the way._

 _The imp celebrated it's short lived victory long enough to be hit by an arrow and explode into a purple cloud of smoke._

 _Link put away his bow and pulled out his bombs. Lighting one, he threw it into another cluster of imps, sending them flying. Tossing several more, he pulled out his sword and spurred Epona on. Nearby, Oki was biting viciously at anything that got in his way as he charged forward. His sword hovered above his back, and he used it to slash any imps who came at him from the side._

 _Link drove Divine Retribution into another group of imps, who vaporized almost instantaneously, then slashed at an imp who had been trying to blindside him. Still, more kept coming._

 _Link brought Epona to a halt, letting her rest while he thought back at the events that had led up to this madness. They had made it to the sea, and Nuregami had kept her promise (thankfully), creating a literal bridge of water that they were able to cross over fairly easily. As soon as they set foot on the other shore, however, they had been ambushed by an enormous swarm of imps who looked like they had known that they were coming. There had been no sign of a leader, but the imps had moved as though someone were giving orders, so there_ must _be a leader somewhere. But where?_

 _Link didn't notice the imp sneaking up on him until it was in the air, club raised to bash his skull in. He readied his sword to defend himself, but the imp was suddenly slashed out of the air with a powerful brush stroke, courtesy of Proxi._

" _No time to daydream," she said, remarkably calm, "Not until we give these filthy monkeys the beating they deserve."_

 _Link nodded, and readied Epona for another charge against the enemy. A sudden arrow nearly took him by surprise, but he just managed to block it with Divine Retribution. It broke off his arm and reformed just to his left. Scoring a powerful hit with his sword, he managed to vaporize at least fifty imps._

 _Suddenly, he heard Oki howl in pain. Link turned to see Oki just absolutely swarmed with imps, fighting to shake off one that had dug its claws into his shoulder._

 _Link charged forward, jumping off Epona straight into the melee, using a spin attack to throw most of the imps off, giving Oki a chance to recover._

 _Oki turned, suddenly human, and screamed over the noise of battle: "LOOK! THAT ARCHER! ON THE DUNE!"_

 _Link turned to look. Sure enough, there was a black imp, about fifty meters away, perched on top of a small sand dune, watching the battle. Currently, it was yelling at a group of retreating imps, who were running away in panic. Link drew his bow, knocked an ice arrow, and…_

 _Suddenly an imp charged at him, seemingly out of nowhere, and raised its crude club to strike him. Reacting quickly, he shot the imp at point blank range, freezing it so brutally that it shattered into a million pieces._

 _But the damage had already been done. The black imp had spotted them and was now barking orders, and another horde of imps was on the way._

 _But Link wasn't having any of it._

 _Putting away his sword and shield, he started running to meet the imps. The imps couldn't believe their luck, and one raised its crudely made spear to meet him. Link saw the movement and just smiled._

 _As the imp thrust its spear forward, Link brought his hand down on the spearhead, forcing it down into the soft, sandy ground. Using the spear as leverage, he cartwheeled into the air, landing hard on the head of one imp. Flipping off, he continued to make his way through the horde of imps until his path became blocked by an imp as burly as a barrel and as tall as an apple tree._

 _Angrily, it launched a series of crushing blows, driving Link back several feet. Then it made its error: it tried to finish Link off with a thrust._

 _Jumping into the air as he twisted just so, Link was able to land and balance on the thin blade of the Imp's sword. He'd started practicing the move when his shadow had pulled it off in the water temple. He knew that it was possible for him to do it (because...he did it already… sort of), so he started practicing as often as he could._

 _There wasn't an opportunity to practice in combat until now, and Link made full use of it. Smiling, he drew his sword and aimed a vertical slash at the imp's enormous head. It cut deep into the imp's skull, causing the imp to vanish into a cloud of dust. Link dropped lightly to the ground, and continued to make his way up the hill top towards the black imp._

 _As he fought his way out of the horde of imps, the black imp started to panic. It pulled at its bow and started to take aim as Link sent the rest of the imps flying with one of his devastating spin attacks._

 _Link noticed the movement just as the black imp let the arrow fly, on a course towards Link's heart. But, moving with blinding speed, he jumped out of the way of the arrow's path and charged straight up the hill. The imp didn't even have time to scream as Link took it out with one jump attack._

 _It took the imp's a little while to realize their commander was gone, but once they did, all it took was a coordinated attack by Proxi and Oki to send them into retreat. They all watched as the imps scattered, running back to who-knows-where._

 _As soon as they were gone, Link ran to Epona. After making sure she wasn't hurt, he laughed and threw his arms around her neck. She nuzzled him back in reply._

 _After a few moments, he released her and turned to see Oki walking towards him, covered in cuts and bruises, his clothing ripped, mask askew, and breathing heavily. Other than that, he was perfectly fine. Proxi, riding on Oki's shoulder, didn't have a scratch, and was as energetic as ever._

" _That was...some excellent...fighting, hero." Oki said, gasping for air._

 _Link smiled, nodding in thanks and turned to look at Proxi, still perched on Oki's shoulder._

" _Meh," she said, hopping onto Link's shoulder, "I bet I could have done better, but I kinda like your style, kid."_

 _Link's grin grew bigger, and even bigger still as Epona snorted in indignation._

 _Oki looked a little sheepish. "Oh, your horse...too. She's quite...the battle horse?...isn't she?"_

 _Epona seemed to accept this, and Oki suddenly straightened as he was reminded of something._

" _Those imps," he began, breathing finally returning to normal, "I don't like it. They knew exactly where we were going to be, and were able to ambush us in one of the best places possible. They knew that the soft sand would interfere with our fighting; I was doing fine until I twisted my paw."_

 _Just as he said it, Link noticed Oki was favoring one foot over the other._

" _That's not normal imp behavior," he continued. "Usually they just wander the roads, picking on travellers and stealing their goods. And maybe, if they have enough numbers, they'll attack a small village once in awhile._

 _He paused for a moment, looking like he was pondering what to say next. "I don't like it… it makes it seem that someone sent these imps after us, that someone doesn't like what we're doing, and wants to stop it."_

 _Oki stared directly at Link "I think we should camp here. Shinsu Field is already a hazardous place to be, and we've already had a long day. So after we set up, I think we should each tell our stories. I don't want any secrets between us, if we're going to be fighting evil and saving villages and all that stuff."_

 _Oki stare started to become more of a glare, "I don't even know what your name is. Come to think of it, I haven't even heard you_ speak."

 _Link met his gaze unflinching. He didn't know what exactly Oki was implying, but he knew it wasn't very nice. And Link saw that as a challenge. So they just stood there, staring eachother down, until Proxi cleared her throat._

" _Well, I hate to break up...whatever this is, but we'll need to get a fire going, food cooking, and a comfortable spot to sleep, because_ I'm _not gonna just stand around while who-knows-what is out there looking for us._

 _Oki turned to face her, a little confused. "Wait...won't a fire just_ attract _unwanted attention?"_

 _Proxi just stared at Oki, and asked incredulously: "How have you survived this long? Why do you think the sun's gone out?"_

 _Oki just looked even more confused. "Huh?"_

 __

 _Proxi rolled her eyes exaggeratedly. "This kid, doesn't even know pro-tip number one for staying alive out here. Monsters_ hate _light." She said, shooting a glance at Oki, who at least had the decency to look embarrassed._

" _Yes...well...I'll, uh, get started on the fire and...see what you can salvage on the beach."_

 _As Oki walked away, Proxi and Link let out a sigh of relief._

" _Whew, you coulda cut the tension in the air with a_ knife!" _Proxi exclaimed as she started her normal bouncing._

" _Those were some nasty things that he said to you, kid. Are ya alright?" Proxi's voice was laced with concern, and he felt a surge of gratitude for the tiny little poncle._

 _Tucking all of his negative emotions into a tiny little corner of his brain, Link smiled and nodded, showing his appreciation with a brief nod in thank you._

 _Then they started the mind-numbing challenge of combing through the scattered debris and spoils left behind by the war party of imps._

 _As most monsters vanished into dust when you cut through them, they didn't leave a lot of stuff behind. Mostly it was just a bunch of splintered clubs, or shattered swords, but occasionally they would find a piece of shredded cloth, or monster teeth, or a small dagger. Link even found a couple of metal disks with holes in the middle. He showed them to Proxi, who called them "yen", and said that you could buy things with them._

 _So it seemed that this "yen" was Nippon's version of a rupee. When he pulled one out to show Proxi, she started sputtering, and talking nonsense about gemstones and other stuff. So his rupees weren't so useless after all…_

 _After that little scene, they made their way back to Oki, who had managed to get a fire going, and was squatting beside it, staring aimlessly at the flames as they flickered to and fro._

" _Hey, you're back," he said, voice devoid of feeling. "I don't suppose you found any food, did you?"_

 _Puzzled by this sudden changed, Link just shook his head, a little dumbstruck._

 _Oki sighed, "Well, I suppose it was too much to hope for, guess we're going to bed hungry tonight."_

 _Link glanced at Proxi, who wore the same stupefied expression. One minute Oki was angry enough to charge straight into a fortress of monsters. The next, he looked as sad and hurt as an abused puppy._

 _Link sat down next to Oki and started to rummage through his bag. Link didn't carry food very often, but he remembered that sometimes he'd carry around his favorite soup that his grandmother made. It was enough to serve two people, but Proxi-_

 _Wait, he didn't_ have _a grandmother._

 _*Sigh*, this memory thing was so confusing._

 _Searching the deep confines of his magic bag, he did manage to find a bottle of Lon Lon milk and a few mushrooms that looked like they'd been in there for quite a while._

 _Tossing the mushrooms aside, Link decided that he'd better hunt; Oki looked like he could barely move, and Proxi wasn't exactly the greatest when it came to long distance travel._

 _So, brushing off a slightly annoyed Proxi, Link walked away from the campfire, digging out his Ocarina to call Epona, when he suddenly stopped._

 _He remembered to golden wolf mask, which had supposedly been a past life of his. While he wasn't all that excited to experience another identity crisis, the mask wasn't going to do him much good sitting at the bottom of his bag._

 _He walked a distance away from the fire, made sure no one was looking, and slipped the mask out of his bag, studying it._

 _It was unlike his other masks, that was for sure. It was one that would only cover the top half of his face, with a nose that stuck out about an inch, made of the same material as his other masks. It looked to be just like a normal wolf (or Wolfros), and was painted a gold that sparkled even under the faint light of the moon._

 _He hesitated for only a second, slowly reaching up to put the mask on his face._

 _For a moment, nothing happened._

 __

 _Then, the transformation began. It started with no warning whatsoever, and caused him to drop to all fours. Memories came flooding back as thousands of needles forced their way through his skin. Teeth lengthened, bones grinded, and then it was all over, in just a few seconds._

 _And just like that, the Hero of the Night was reborn._

 **Author's note: I can't believe it took this long to write this chapter, and I didn't even get to the part I wanted to! I apologize with the long wait, I've just been a little busy lately. I don't want to jinx myself, so I'll just leave here with the reminder to review, and I'll get started right away!**

 **P. S: I know Wind Waker takes place on a separate timeline, but the official timeline also doesn't specify when each game timeline happened relative to one another, so I took a few creative liberties.**


	11. Chapter 11

**And now my chapters are starting to get a little longer. Overcompensation, I guess.**

 **Anyway, this next part is a flashback, in case it isn't immediately obvious. Enjoy!**

 **P. S.: I own neither the Legend of Zelda nor Okami.**

Link quietly stalked through the undergrowth, under the cover of darkness, every sense attune to the sounds around him. His golden pelt was scratched from the brambles of many plants, yet the fierce light of determination still pulsed in his icy blue eyes. The scent was stronger than it had ever been before, his pelt prickled in the anticipation of a sudden encounter.

As a minor god, he often got neglected in terms of worship, praise, and sacrifice. The "Olympians", as they chose to call themselves got most of that glory from the humans on their successful, monster free universe they called "Earth". Their rise to power made them famous, as their triumph was so unlikely, so unexpected. So they got to bask in the glory while hanging around a monster free world, partying all day. Especially Zeus.

He didn't really mind. After all, they deserved it. Defeating Titans is no small feat, after all. And he, Link, hadn't done anything, other than being the only surviving child of a wolf goddess, saved out of pity, not because of any heroic deed.

Still, at least he _tried_ to make a difference in the world.

Because of a sudden surge of monster and demon activity, most gods and goddesses were cowering in terror, afraid to do something as world after world became overrun by darkness.

But they _could_ do something! They had powers beyond comprehension, powers that could easily stop the flow of darkness, if they could only muscle up and use them!

And that's why he was wandering through dark and foreboding woods at midnight. Recently some inky black creatures had been screwing around on a recently created universe by the name of Nippon. Only one god was fighting to rid the world of monsters, and he had recently gone missing. So Link had been tasked with finding this god, this...Shiranui, and quickly!

A sudden howl of pain snapped Link out of his thoughts. He quickly crested a small hill and ducked down to avoid detection, while he figured out what was happening.

Peeking just above the rise, he saw a white wolf, writhing in pain as blood poured from multiple wounds. Closer inspection revealed that the "blood" was just red patches of fur, shaped like old battle wounds.

A golden, fiery disk hovered above the wolves back, as it wrestled what looked like an inky shadow. As he watched, the inky figure bite the wolf's front leg, causing the wolf to let out a cry of pain.

Link was on him in an instant, grasping the creature with his teeth and tossing it against a nearby tree. He began to rain blow after blow on the creature, but the creature was surprisingly resilient. It struck back with enormous strength, throwing him back against an enormous tree, stunning him.

The creature closed the gap between them at an alarming pace, but the other wolf was able to tackle the creature before it reached Link, giving him the precious few seconds he needed to recover. He joined the white wolf and together they began attacking it with as much force as they could muster. Slowly, the creature's struggles started to get weaker and weaker, and Link thought they might actually kill it.

Unfortunately, the thing was only toying with them. With a loud roar, it lept up and knocked the two wolves off their feet. It lunged toward the white wolf and seemed to cover him with its inky body. The wolf's fur became splattered with black, but oddly enough the red markings weren't affected at all, not the slightest splotch of black clung there. The snow white fur, however, was a different matter entirely. The inky blackness began to spread across snow white fur, and as it did so, the wolf began to struggle less and less.

Link shakily got to his feet, and stumbled over to the white wolf. Slowly but surely, the inky substance was slowly consuming the wolf. And there was nothing that he could do but watch. Panicking, he tried desperately to think of what he could do to stop the spreading, but then he noticed something odd.

In the center of the wolf's forehead, where another red marking lay, the white forehead sported an odd shaped look Link was sure wasn't there before. It was a diamond-like pattern that seemed to throb like a beating heart, as though something underneath the skin was alive. Could that be the center of activity?

The wolf's breathing became so shallow it was getting hard to hear. There was no time to think; Link pinned the wolf's head gently to the ground with his paws, then carefully broke skin above the wolf's forehead with his fangs. At contact, the wolf whimpered and tried weakly to squirm out of his grasp, but Link gently applied more pressure and kept going, wincing slightly. He was relieved to feel his jaws close around a solid, almost rocklike object. So at least this wasn't all for nothing.

The wolf tried again to weakly pull away as he started to slowly lift the object out of the forehead. Link easily held firm, but tears were running down his cheeks at the thought of how much pain he must be causing the wolf. Finally, the object broke free of the skin and Link spat it on the ground, stepping off the wolf and gasping as he saw the golden blood of the gods pouring from the egg-sized hole in the wolf's head.

At least the ink had sto-

The ink suddenly pooled off the wolf and was sucked into the odd, crystal like object in the wolf's head. It was shaped like the outline of a diamond, albeit a roughly cut diamond, and seemed to sparkle cruelly in the small light that the moon gave out. It was about the size of an egg, and it looked to be only a few centimeters thick.

A small groan from the wolf made Link jump in surprise. Turning back to look at the wolf, he noticed that the hole in it's head had closed up completely. Breathing a small sigh of relief, he opened his mouth to ask the wolf if it was okay, who it was, and if it knew anything about Shiranui, when the mysterious diamond like object began to twitch.

As Link bent down to examine it, the object suddenly launched itself into the air and, with a flash of searing pain, became imbedded in his forehead. Howling desperately he fought to shake the object free, but to no avail. The malicious object only pressed itself further into his forehead, sending out another wave of white hot pain that made Link howl in pain and fear. The white wolf stepped forward to help, but Link shook his head, and met the wolf's eyes.

The wolf's eyes were two amber pools, filled with sorrow and helplessness. It started toward him, but Link tried to ward it off with his gaze. It actually did work, but the wolf was sent reeling back with shock, then stumbled away, streaking as fast as it could through the trees.

Link suddenly became aware of a certain darkness that started to spread throughout his entire body, slowly sucking out all the warmth and goodness out of his limbs. His breathing became heavy and labored, and spots swam before his eyes. The scariest part, however, was that it seemed like this darkness was leaving an impression on him. He found himself wondering if he'd live through this, but he found that he didn't care. Even though he had every reason to!

His legs could no longer support his weight, and he toppled to the ground, gasping for breath as he struggled to rise. But he was too far gone.

He felt something struggling to invade invade his mind. He tried to fight it, but he was already slipping away. His last sight was that of the crescent moon, standing alone as it battled away the cold darkness of the night.

 **Author's Note: I'm just realizing that this has a lot of similarities to** **Bendy and the Ink Machine,** **at least in terms of villains. A little too late to fix, and I need to work on showing, not telling a bit too.**

 **I hope to post again soon!**


	12. Chapter 12

**I'm still not at the part I thought I'd be by now. I guess it just shows how a story gets added to as you go along. And I'm still not entirely sure what I'm going to do…**

 **Hopefully that changes by the end of this chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: I own neither the Legend of Zelda nor Okami.**

Help…

 _Link awoke with a start. Instantly, he was hit with the fresh, crisp air of a misty forest, leaves crunching underfoot as he abruptly stood up, searching out with all his senses to try what had awoken him. As he looked up at the dark trees towering over him, he realized with a shudder that he was back in the Lost woods, but how could that be?_

Please...help…

 _At the corner of his vision, a mysterious golden light was beginning to form. Curious, he walked over to it, entranced by the way it swirled through the air, gentle wisps curling like smoke, dancing along a nonexistent breeze._

Please...someone...help me…

 _Was that voice coming_ from _the golden wisps? He waved a paw through it; it was almost as thick as butter. Suddenly, as though his paw had stirred up the particles to madness, they began to spin rapidly through the air, seeming to form the shape of some creature. As they started to come together, Link could see that it was a wolf._

 _As soon as the wolf had formed, it dropped lightly to the ground, and took in its surroundings with wonder. The wolf was a beautiful female, with snow white fur (except the tip of her tail, which looked as though it were covered in ink), glowing amber eyes, and blood red markings that marked her as a brush goddess. At her shoulders and near the tip of her tail, her fur formed interesting patterns, seeming to exist only make her shine more beautifully._

 _Then she turned her amber gaze on him._

"Who are you?". _Her voice was as gentle as the touch of a butterfly, as sweet as honey, and carried as much power as a raging thunderstorm. Link wasn't one to normally get intimidated, but the presence of this goddess was just too much for him to bear. The only thing that he could manage to do was bow, low to the ground, as best as he could manage in wolf form._

 _The goddess chuckled._

"It's alright, there's no need for that." _she said, walking closer and crouching down so that their muzzles became only a few centimeters apart. Link was having a little trouble breathing properly._

"Look at me," _she said, stepping even closer._

 _Link didn't really have a choice. Her voice was so soft, so soothing, he didn't think he could have disobeyed her even if he wanted to. So he took a deep breath and looked up into the amber pools of light that were her eyes. The longer he looked, the calmer he became, the easier it was to breathe, and the tension slowly went out of his body, as he realized she was less all-powerful being and more of a young, excited she-wolf who felt the need to enjoy life._

 _She giggled once more, her laughter sounding like the sparkling of fairy dust._

"There," _she said, playfully nuzzling him with her muzzle._ "I promise I don't bite."

 _Her touch seemed like the cure to a disease he didn't know he had; a rush of warmth spread through his body, making the tension relax, easing all his worries, and generally made him feel better than he had in years. He was also filled with the sudden urge to play with the strange she-wolf, but he shrugged it off as he straightened up._

 _Suddenly, the forest landscape seemed to melt away, pooling around their feet and revealing the sky, brilliantly lit up and filled with clouds, not unlike the place where he had fought Demise many years ago. As he had the thought, the clouds suddenly turned dark and ominous, blocking out the sun as two figures formed, one an imposing black monster, towering over the smaller figure, who wore familiar looking garb and held a familiar looking sword and shield._

 _The she-wolf blinked in surprise._

"Wh- how did we get here? Who _is_ that? WHAT'S GOING ON?!"

 _Link thought he knew the answer, but just to make sure, he cleared his mind and thought about his battle with his shadow, Dark Link._

 _Sure enough, the two figures melted with a_ ploosh. _All around the two wolves, several different ruined buildings seemed to rise from the water. Beneath their feet, a sandy bank rose, and between them, a small, spindly tree quickly sprung up, ironically._

 _The she wolf looked was even more confused, and was about to ask something when past him walked through the door, just the way he remembered: overly confident, a little smug, and starting to take a turn down a path that would have only led to darkness._

 _The she wolf was astonished._ "What is this? He looks like that human who fought the demon. Are they…?" _Link nodded, his eyes still on his past self. Oh, how he had thought that he was the coolest man in Hyrule. A dragon slayer, a knight, the best swordsman there ever was, in fact. But that was all about to change in this room._

 _His memory sauntered pass, sword at the ready and shield at hand. He was too absorbed in thinking about what puzzle this room might hold that he didn't even notice his reflection dissapear as he passed by the old withered tree, too caught up in his own little world to even pay it a second glance. A big mistake._

 _His past self walked over to the door, confused as he realized it was shut with a gate, one that only raised when he defeated each challenge a dungeon had to offer. But...he didn't see any enemy. The she-wolf suddenly gasped as a shadow in the shape of a man began to form on the sand next to her. An evil looking sword and a battered shield were also starting to come into being, lying in the sand next to the shadow. As Link from the past started to slowly turn around, the shadowy figure, not yet fully formed, picked up the sword and shield and headed into battle._

 _Link from the past was a little startled at first, but he leapt into action with a smirk on his face as he rained devastating blows down on his foe…_

 _Only to falter in dismay, as each blow was blocked with surprising ease. The shadow snickered, and just watched as Link from the past tried to come up with a battle strategy. His fairy companion, Navi, flitted around Dark Link, but the only thing she had to offer was "Conquer yourself!"._

 _So Link from the past tried a new series of blows, followed by one of the spin attacks he was known for. Bout once more, every blow was blocked or avoided, and his shadow simply backflipped to avoid the sword spin._

 _Next, Link from the past tried a series of thrusts, but to his astonishment, his shadow simply jumped to land on top of the blade, freezing Link from the past's arm and staring at him with a smug smile. Then he lept off the sword and continued to stare Link from the past down, letting out a menacing laugh._

 _Link could see the panic that once filled his face, as he realized that this foe had all of his skills, and perhaps even more, only to grit his teeth and try to think of a way to beat this creature, his shadow, or Dark Link, as Navi had been fond of calling him._

 _The two wolves sat in silence as they continued to watch the two figures duel, putting on an impressive show of swordplay and skill. The she wolf was oddly transfixed at the sight of the gleaming swords, clashing together again and again and again. Occasionally the blades would meet flesh instead of steel, and there was a grunt of pain, but it was either quickly shrugged off or strong enough to send the other flying back. In Dark Link's case, this meant falling through the surface of the water as though it weren't there. The first time this happened, Link had smiled in triumph, only to become dismayed when the shadows reformed at the base of the tree to create a stronger foe._

 _The battle raged for hours, blow after blow, cry after cry, flip after flip. After a while, Link from the past was breathing heavily, and Dark Link was at his strongest, darkest form. They continued to rain blow after blow, even more vicious than before, one fighting for his life, and the other with pure, unbridled rage. Link remembered that it had taken his last remaining energy to put one last, desperate plan into effect. He clumsily moved his shield into position to parry a sword thrust, only to have it end up in his arm. Then, using the small advantage, he poured his remaining energy into one final, vicious swing that sent Dark Link hurtling into oblivion. A small sacrifice for the big victory, but it had almost cost him his life._

 _So Link from the past collapsed on the ground, too exhausted to move as the sky began to fade, and walls started to slowly come into existence, restricting the boundaries of the memory. Link watched as his past self became more and more determined not to let pride get the best of him again._

 _Link cleared his thoughts, and the rooms around them vanished into water once more._

 _The she wolf turned to look at him._ "Are you...doing this?"

 _A smaller, cuter version of his human self emerged from the water, broke out into smile, then nodded before disappearing back into the water._

 _The she wolf looked a little concerned_ "Then...who _are_ you?"

 _Golden words floated out of the water, and slowly span around the two wolves._

 **I have no idea. Perhaps you can help me. Am I a hero of the everlasting night? Or am I a hero of the skies above? Do I have a bird as a mount, or do I have a horse? Do I have a fairy companion or a mystical spirit? Am I a beast or man? A hero or a villain? Friend or foe? Split or whole? WHY MUST IT BE SO DIFFICULT!?**

 _Images began to swirl at an alarming rate, creating a hurricane as pictures erupted from the water then vanished just as quickly. The sky, once full of beautiful and soft clouds, turned dark and stormy, blocking out the sun and adding lightning strikes to the ever increasing vortex._

 _Suddenly he was tackled to the ground, but the storm was still going as strong as ever. Quickly, he tried to free himself, but the she-wolf only pressed harder, pinning him against the raging waters._

"STOP!" _Her voice carried so much authority that he obeyed without a second thought. The storm vanished as quickly as it had begun, until they only remnants were ripples in the never-ending plain of water._

 _Link tried to get up, but the she wolf dug her claws into his shoulders and wouldn't let go. Her eyes were twin suns blazed with a fierceness that terrified him more than any monster in the world, and the water dripping from her fur could have been frozen by the coldness of her demeanor._

"I want some answers and I want them _now._ " _Her voice had turned harder than his Hylian shield, and he couldn't help but shudder as the words raked over him harsher than a thousand unforgiving blades._

"You've given me no reason for me to believe you're on my side. That storm of yours nearly drowned me, and I have no problem slitting your throat if you try anything stupid. YOU GOT THAT!?"

 _Even though he was inches away from death, Link couldn't help but admire her. She was quite remarkable, and reminded him quite a bit of Samus Aran. He quickly nodded his head._

"Good. Now, start with your name."

 _As the letters started to slowly rise out of the water, she positioned her cold, black unforgiving claws near his neck, watching carefully as the four letters began to arrange themselves into his name, although the obsidian daggers hovering only a few centimeters above his windpipe were quite a bit distracting._

"L..i...n...k. Link?" _she asked, looking down for confirmation. Swallowing nervously, Link could only nod._

"Well then, _Link,_ where are we?" _Link had to close his eyes so he could concentrate on his next message. He wasn't very comfortable staring at what could be death for some reason. Although it was very interesting, the effect she had on him. So far, the she-wolf was the only person who could make him as nervous as he was now, even more than Ganon!_

"In your mind, you think? Hm...that's interesting. Now," _Her white teeth gleamed in the sun, spittle dripping on his face as she leaned closer._

"Tell me. Are you a _nice wolf_ or are you a _bad wolf." Those blazing suns were centimeters away from burning him into a crisp._

 _He wasn't exactly sure the answer would please her, but he answered the question truthfully._

"You're not sure!? What is that supposed to mean?"

 _Taking a deep breath, Link started at the beginning, showing her the fragments of memory from each of his different adventures, starting with the day he met the white wolf, who looked an awfully lot like the one currently pinning him down. Was his name Shiranui? Anyway, when he showed the wolf, the she-wolf, who had a bored expression plastered on her face until that moment, she was startled beyond words. If he wanted to, he could have easily pushed her off. But that would make her think he_ was _a terrible wolf, so he continued along with his memories._

 _Link showed her the trial, where she was overwhelmed by the amount of divine beings._

He showed her his adventures in the sky, where she smiled at the exciting love story.

 _He showed her his trips among the Minish, where she found the cuteness of the tiny people to be overwhelming._

 _He showed her his split into four different Links, where she winced in sympathy._

 _He showed her his recent adventures in Hyrule, where she was blown away by the beauty of the land._

 _He even showed her his adventures on the high seas, and the consequences of failure._

 _And when he showed her Termina, she mourned in sympathy for Skull Kid, and wept over the deaths of the Deku Scrub, Darmani, and Mikau._

 _Finally, he showed he what had happened to lead him up to this point._

 _She was so overwhelmed at the end of it, Link practically had to howl in order to get her attention. The she wolf moved off him and sat down nearby._

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have doubted you." _More letters appeared out of the air._

 **You had good reason to.**

"I guess...but after seeing all the terrible things you've been through, I feel awful after treating you like that.

 **It's alright, I'm used to it.**

"But you shouldn't have to be! You've accomplished amazing things; you should be treated like a king, not like some sort of vermin off the streets! Don't you want to be recognized?"

 _Link sighed, and as he rose to his feet, it was as if an object of some large mass had been forced upon his countenance._

 **To tell you the truth, yes. When I got sent back to my own time by Princess Zelda, it seemed that my status and credibility had been lost with my adult body. People around me, people that had once respected and looked up to me, now treated me like I was nothing, a nobody! I had grown up too fast, and the memory of what I could do in my adult body was still fresh in my mind. My maturity, skills, memories, everything.**

 _Link was shaking, tears streaming down his face. He hadn't realized that he could get so emotional._

 **I mean, I didn't expect much. I know no one would have remembered me fighting Ganon, I just hoped they would remember the other stuff I did. But that wasn't how it worked. The Deku Tree was unsavable from the beginning, and I was able to warn Zelda about Ganon, so no one knew I saved the two tribes. I don't think it would have been as bad if Navi hadn't left me. She was the only one who had suffered through the same things I had. And when she left...I couldn't take it anymore.**

 **That was why I left. I only took Epona, my horse, because I felt she was the only company worth having. Now...I just want to get back. After Termina, I wanted to take a little break from being a hero, and I wanted to get to know everyone back at home a little better too. But...I don't know how long that'll last.**

 _Link couldn't stop the torrent streaming down his face._

 **I'll never be able to live a normal life. Never! It's the same vicious cycle over and over again. And not ONE...PERSON...CARES! NO ONE HAS, AND NO ONE EVER WILL!**

 _He couldn't help it. He collapsed in a heap on the ground, sobs shaking his body as he silently poured the last couple years of frustration out of his body._

 _Suddenly, he felt a comforting paw run along his spine, touch as gentle as a bird's feather. His sobs continued to echo around the empty plain, but he didn't care about what the she-wolf would think. There was a time and a place for everything, and right now he was happy just to be a child again._

 _Finally, after one last sniffle, the last of his tears slipped from his cheek and into the pool of water that was his mind. The surface seemed to glow golden for a second, but faded quickly. Finally, he stood up, the she wolf retreating to an appropriate distance._

 **Sorry about that.** _Was it his imagination, or were his thoughts slightly more solid now?_

 _The she-wolf waved it away. "_ It's alright. I've had a few moments where I've lost it too."

 _Link smiled, then frowned in embarrassment as he realized that he didn't even know who this person was._

 **I just realized...what's your name?**

 _A sudden wave of fatigue hit him, and Link could barely make out her next words as he drifted off to sleep._

"Oh! It's Amaterasu. But you can just call me Ammy."

 **Author's note: Sorry if it feels a little rushed. I wanted to finish this up as fast as I could.**

 **Anyway, as you can probably tell, I just loved the setting of the battle with Demise.** **Skyward Sword** **might not be the best game, but hey! It's Zelda, and that's good enough for me.**

 **I'll try and clear up some things in the next chapter. Still don't know where this is going to take me, but at least I'm trying, right?**

 **See you later (hopefully).**


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's note: Here we are again. Time to check back in on Proxi and Oki.**

 **Disclaimer: I own neither the Legend of Zelda nor Okami.**

 _Link awoke with a start. He was lying next to the dead carcass of a young deer, a lucky find in such a desolate and dreary landscape. Sticklike trees poking up like the hands of Re-deads, struggling to find a source of nourishment that was no longer there. There was complete and total silence, except for the occasional shriek of a predator or the cawing of a crow. Grass was scarce at best, as was evident in the young creature's buildup. It was practically dead by the time he found it, breathing heavily and laying on its side, defeated. He'd done it a favor, really._

 _He had only laid down for a second...but he'd had a history of incidents like these, so it wasn't all that surprising._

 _Groaning, he got to his feet and stretched, mouth gaping open in a large yawn that would have terrified King Dodongo. He'd had to travel quite a ways from the beach to find this shell of a forest, avoiding Shinshu Field for the time being. The music of that place...it was just too terrible to even think about._

 _Well, no use delaying any further. He grasped the young deer in his jaws, and started back towards the beach, his path illuminated by hundreds of twinkling, blue mushrooms that shone like the light from dozens of fairies, somehow managing to give the forest a strange and ethereal beauty. He felt his heart twinge as once more he wished once more for the company of Navi._ Why did she have to leave him?

 _He pushed that depressing thought away and turned his thoughts toward his strange dream. It hadn't felt very dream-like, but surely it must have been. How else could he have caused all those things to happen just by thinking about them? But Ammy...the awe that he felt just by looking at her...surely his mind couldn't have conjured up someone so...so_ breathtaking _. That was really the only way he could describe her._

 _She kind of reminded him of himself, actually. She'd been willing to listen to his problems, offered a shoulder of comfort to lean on (not literally), basically she'd been all the things that he had ever been for anyone ever._

 _Wait...didn't Oki say that Amaterasu was the Sun Goddess who had gone missing years ago? The one that Yomigami had asked him to find? Was she trying to contact him? How was she doing that?_

 _It gave him something to think about as he stumbled along, sleep still weighing heavily on his paws. When he finally reached the sand dunes, his mind was spinning around faster than a windmill during a storm. He tried to clear his head, but it was like trying to get rid of a swarm of bees by swatting them. It only made it worse. Finally, he found something else to focus on: the problem of getting back to normal. He didn't want Proxi or Oki (especially Oki) to find out about his new form, not until he got more comfortable with the idea of being some kind of wolf deity, anyway._

 _He closed his eyes and forced his tired brain to work a little. There had to be some way to change back. He'd already tried prying the mask off before, but he hadn't been able to get any leverage with his leever-sized paws. He hadn't even felt the seam where the mask met his face, which was, quite frankly, terrifying._

 _With the Deku Mask, he'd been able to revert back to his true form by playing the song of healing, but he'd needed an instrument. Since he had pipes as a Deku Scrub, drums as a Goron, and a guitar as a Zora, it stood to reason that he should have something to make music in this form._

 _Even if there wasn't…well, he supposed he could always just sing._

 _As he smiled at the thought, he realized with a jolt that he had found the answer! Wolves were famous for howling at the moon, all he had to do was figure out how to change pitch, and he was good._

 _He gently lowered the deer to the soft, padded and extremely cold sand and sat down beside it. He raised his head to the sky to allow the notes to escape easier into the chilled night air. He hummed the notes of the Song of Healing, notes buzzing in his throat, begging to echo through the wonderful night. When he was ready, he let his song roll forth, bouncing among the dunes, piercing the stillness with notes prettier than an ocarina, louder than a trumpet, deeper than drums, and more emphasized than a guitar._

 _This song...it combined them all, shaping them into something stronger than started out. As he had this realization, the mask tumbled into his lap, and he found himself sitting cross-legged in small particles of ice._

 _Quickly, he scrambled to his feet, sending buckets of sand flying through the air. He finally got up, somehow managing to keep sand off the deer carcass. He did a quick analysis to make sure nothing was wrong (everything normal, except for the sand clinging to his tunic), and scooped up the wolf mask._

 _He tucked it right next to his Goron mask, then slung the young deer over his shoulder and followed his nose, the stench of smoke leading right into a peaceful scene: Oki laying on his back, arms supporting his head, looking more relaxed than a sleeping cuckoo. Proxi, laying on his chest, sleeping soundly. A small campfire beside them chased away the shadows as good as any magical fire Link had ever conjured._

 _Oki didn't even notice his approach until Link was standing right next to him. The tired teenager tilted his head back and let out an exclamation when he saw the deer slung across Link's back._

" _Oh! So that's where you've been. We were starting to get a little worried, me and Proxi…" His voice trailed off as he noticed the poncle snoring on his chest. He brushed her off into the sand and stood up._

" _How did you even find that? Deer haven't been numerous ever since the sun vanished, as you can probably tell, so it's lucky you even found one, much less caught it."_

 _Right about then Oki's stomach let out an enormous growl. He looked a bit embarrassed, then laughed, finally taking the stupid mask off his face. It was a youthful, handsome face, with no blemishes except for a small scar just above his right eye. His eyes were bright with excitement and joy, his mouth pulled into an easy smile. Link didn't think he'd realized it until now, but Oki's brown eyes were the same shade as his wooden boomerang._

 _Which...didn't make a whole lot of sense. Whatever. It didn't really matter._

 _Link watched as Oki carefully cut the deer up into slabs of meat (there wasn't much) and constructed a spit out of a couple broken sticks and some crude rope. He skewered the meat and set it to roast._

 _The sizzling meat woke up Proxi, who stumbled over to Link and lazily jumped on his shoulder. Together, the odd trio sat in silence as they watched the meat slowly cook._

 _After what felt like an eternity, the meat was finally ready to eat. Once it came off the spit, Oki and Proxi attacked their meat with vigor, vicious predators as they scarfed down bite after bite. Their slices (Proxi's was bite sized) were gone within second._

 _But Link savored each bite, giving thanks to the poor creature for its sacrifice. The juices were a symphony of their own on his tongue, he didn't think food had ever tasted this good. He tended to skip entire meals in his numerous quests to save the land._

 _When Link had finally polished off his final bite, Oki started to get serious again._

" _Alright," he said, eyeing Link suspiciously. "Now it's time to learn about everyone's feats, heroic deeds, failures, all that stuff. I'm going to go first, and then Proxi, and then Link. No getting out of this, we're not traveling any further until we know everything about us._

" _I was born and raised in the land of Kamui, where I grew to become a cocky young man with no respect whatsoever for our ancient traditions. All I ever wanted to do was learn how to fight monsters. But when we were finally taught how to do it, I was so arrogant that I figured I had the moves down within the first day._

" _There was a prophecy among our tribe, that once Kutone glowed with sacred light, it would protect our people as long as it continued to shine. It had done its job faithfully for all the years I'd been alive. But one day, about six years ago, the blade shone no longer. The Oina puzzled over what to do, but I figured that I had the answer._

" _If the blade wouldn't glow,_ I'd _make it glow. With the blood of monsters, that is. So I foolishly stole Kutone late one night and set out to find monster. That was also the night when the sun didn't come up. But at the time, I didn't even notice. I was too busy trying to kill each and every monster that I came across. Except...they would all vanish when I got too close._

" _This made me so angry that I didn't even notice that these apparitions started to appear further and further off, leading me towards some unknown point. All I knew was that whatever was making these fake monsters was going to die._

" _At least, I did until I met the Spider Queen. She suddenly erupted out of the ground, startling me so much that I almost dropped Kutone. My "training" kicked in after a moment and I slashed at her arm, only to let out a cry of horror as my attack did seemingly nothing against the hideous beast. The Spider Queen just laughed! She swatted me easier than a fly, didn't even consider me to be enough of a threat to kill me. Luckily, the force of her blow knocked me a good ways back, so I was able to easily escape._

" _It was only then that I realized what an enormous fool I had been. I went back home with more than a little reluctance. I knew that I deserved to be banished for what I had done, but I had to go back and let them know that I was sorry._

" _But when I got back, it was already too late. The whole village of Kamui had simply disappeared! There weren't tracks, or even rubble. The whole thing was just gone. I knew that it was my fault. I was the one who had taken Kutone, and the whole village had suffered because of me._

" _So I've spent these past few years searching for someone worthy to take the name of hero, and undo the mistakes that I've done. I think that person is you, Link. But I just wanted to make sure. It was wrong for me to treat you like I did, and I apologize. I let my temper get the best of me, like I so often do. Will you forgive me?"_

 _Link, who had listened with rapt attention the entire time, smiled and nodded his head._

 _Oki looked suddenly looked ten times better. Throughout his story, he had continued to sink further and further into a pit of gloom and darkness. Link had seen many others fall into the same pit and were unable to get out on their own. Some would even embrace it, hiding their pain under several layers of bad habits and dark thoughts. But if they did get out, they became stronger than ever before, learning from their experiences and becoming people that they could be proud of. Others needed a little help along the way, but they became just as strong as those who got out on their own._

 _Link was glad to see that that was happening to Oki; He seemed like a pretty cool guy._

 _Proxi cleared her throat._

" _My turn? Okay…"_

" _I was born a poncle. I had a childhood. I admired Issun for his awesome work. I trained to become like him. Then he vanished, stuff happened, I borrowed a couple powerful artifacts, plus Issun's notes, and I set off to find him."_

 _Link and Oki stared at her, expecting more. A few moments of awkward silence passed, the crackling of the fire providing the only conversation._

 _Finally, Proxi's blue fairy light turned red._

" _LOOK, WE'RE NOT ALL GOOD AT TELLING INTERESTING STORIES, ALRIGHT?"_

 _Oki rolled his eyes._

" _Whatever. At least you recognize your talents."_

 _Link could have sworn that Oki muttered "Few as they may be" under his breath, while Proxi continued to rant on about storytellers and how they had very few skills that allowed them to excel at life._

 _Turning to Link, his expression softened._

" _You don't have to share your life story if you don't want to. Just promise you won't kill me in my sleep, and I think that we'll be able to get along fine."_

 _Link smiled, and nodded a "thank you". At least someone was starting to make sense in this twisted world._

 _Later at night, while Oki and Proxi slept by the embers of a dying fire, Link was kept awake, thinking about his past experiences. Specifically, his adventures in Termina, and his recent experiences with Amaterasu. It was mostly just speculation about what his relationship would be like with the wolf goddess, what it was like right now. He could tell that she was struggling to fight some sort of battle. It was evident in the way she held herself, the look in her eyes, even in the way that she had attacked. Like she was afraid of getting hurt._

 _It seemed extremely obvious, but maybe it was because he had gone through a similar phase in Termina. Navi's disappearance had really hurt, and for a while, he hadn't even wanted to get close to another person like that ever again._

 _Obviously he had grown out of it, but that was really only because of Epona. She'd been to him what he had been to other people: a shoulder to cry on, a good listener, and most importantly a good friend. No matter the situation, the weather, or the distance between them, when he called, she always came running, eager to help Link on his way._

 _As if the very thought had summoned her, Link felt her gentle muzzle rest on his right shoulder, instantly removing any tension left in his muscles. Rubbing the fingers of his left hand deep into the tangles of her thick mane, he had a sudden thought. While hunting the deer earlier today, he'd noticed how easy it was to understand the pain it was in. In fact, he could have sworn he'd heard its tortured sobs echoing through his head at one point._

 _If he hadn't been hallucinating from the lack of sleep, was it possible that his wolf form could actually communicate with the creatures of the forest? Was it possible that he could communicate with Epona?_

 _It certainly wouldn't hurt to try._

 _Continuing his vigorous massage, Link fumbled with his right hand the contents of his magic bag. It was surprisingly easy to find the wolf mask, as though it had been pulled by a mysterious force towards his hand._

 _Trembling with anticipation, comparable to the first time he took his first steps onto the vast plain of Hyrule Field, he lifted the mask slowly to his face._

 _Instead of a painful transformation, however, there was only the slightest tingling sensation all across his body. It was actually kind of nice…_

 _Until he face-planted into the sand. Expecting Epona to be shaking in silent laughter, Link raised his head slowly, readying one of his best glares._

 _Ironically, Link was surprised to find...well...Epona's lack of surprise. Instead, it was more along the lines of a fond eyeroll, if her words were to be put into actions._

" _Seriously? Another mask? I thought you were finally done with all of them!"_

 _She sounded exactly like he expected her to sound. Her voice was light like the breeze that carried through Hyrule Field. Her voice carried with it the joy of freedom, and seemed to give his soul a rebirth, the kind of rebirth everyone experiences when they take a deep breath of wild nature. It was enough to leave Link gaping in awe. He tended to do that around girls a lot (especially Ruto)._

 _It took a moment before he actually registered what she said. When he finally did, Link leapt to his feet and started to nod his head vigorously, as if for each time he nodded his head, it would make the situation less awkward. Then he shrugged his shoulders, as if to say that these things kept happening to him._

 _Epona nodded in understanding._

" _Yes, it doesn't seem like we'll ever get a break. Everytime we think we're finished, some imp comes along and spoils our day."_

 _Link smiled sadly, remembering skull kid. But his heart soared with joy when the impact of what he was doing finally hit him: he was finally able to communicate with his best friend._

 _For a while, they did nothing but sit and chat about Hyrule, Termina, and all the people they had met along the way. They shared experiences, jokes, even feelings of affection. After several hours, Link remembered the reason that he had transformed in the first place. He related his experience with Amaterasu, his impressions, his thoughts, and the actions he had taken and the words he had said. Epona listened intently, and by the time Link had asked his question, she was ready with an answer._

" _The way you described her to me…" She began, voice thoughtful._

" _It seems like some recent experience has made her lose confidence in her abilities. If you try to become a role model, it'll only make it worse. Granted, anything is possible. Look at what we're doing right now! But...she just needs a friend, Link. Like skull kid. Like_ you."

 _Link nodded. Sometimes it was easy to forget that he had once been a bullied, almost friendless child. He only was who he was because of Saria...Navi...Zelda...Impa...Darunia...Nabooru...Ruto. It was his desire to save them and Hyrule that had given him the strength necessary to beat Ganon._

 _Epona was right. That was all Amaterasu needed. Hopefully she would feel the same way._

 _Suddenly, Oki started shifting in his sleep. Link glanced over, and realized with a sinking feeling that he had neglected to do an important job._

 _Epona's smile suddenly turned teasing._

" _Better start that fire again before your new friends wake up. I'm going to see if I can find something to eat. Call when you're ready."_

 _She took off faster than a Goron, kicking up the sand as she went. Link could only follow her for a couple seconds, and then she was gone._

 _Smiling in satisfaction, he tilted his snout to the sky and took a deep breath._

 **Author's note: I feel like I'm going to be saying this a lot, but I'm sorry this took a long time to get up. I can't believe it's been more than a month.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. As always, please rate and review; tell me what I can do better, and hopefully the next chapter will be up soon!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's note: I thought it would be fun to see how Amaterasu reacts to these events, don't you think so?**

 **Disclaimer: I own neither the Legend of Zelda nor Okami**

She awoke with a start. The stench of pitch and cave dust hung in the air like a clothesline of wet rags. Amaterasu was painfully aware that compared to the delicious air of the forest she had been wandering through a moment before, this musty cave stank worse than a year-old carcass. Oh, what she wouldn't have given to have even a _taste_ of that sweet exhilaration once more…

She struggled to further recall the dream she'd had only moments before. Hadn't there been someone else there? A young, golden wolf with the most amazing of eyes, eyes that had seen much more than white fur and gentle curves. Eyes that had seen straight into the tortured soul and had winced in sympathy.

 _Wait... White fur? Gentle? TORTURED SOUL?_ That didn't sound like her at all! No wonder Ninetails was getting worried; she was starting to sound like one of those oh-so-delicate brush goddesses. _Blech._

Come to think of it, where was Ninetails? Surely it didn't take _that_ long to track down a couple of travelers? Especially every other measly creature who shared this group of islands was either dead, dying, or in hiding.

And _no one_ could stand up to the hordes. Not for long, anyway.

"NINETAILS!"

Wow. She hadn't realized how loud she could be. Her voice was almost on-par with the sound of an earthquake. It certainly carried the power of one, evidenced by a couple shaking stalactites, flickering torchlight, and a sudden shower of small pebbles.

Ninetails didn't keep long. Spry as ever, he raced into the room like a tail-chopping madman was just behind him.

"You're awake!" he nearly screamed, voice almost completely disguised by pep as he slid to a complete stop.

Amaterasu felt more than a little need to raise an eyebrow. _Now_ what was he hiding? The last time she heard him like this was when he had allowed that foul, immature poncle to escape (thankfully, the poncle had been so weak he hadn't even made it to the entrance).

"What have you done this time?" She was somewhat amused; it was entertaining to see an old fox like Ninetails acting like a pup that's done something wrong.

His surprise was so fake, it was amazing that Ninetails didn't choke on his words as they exited his mouth.

"Something wrong? ME!? Why would you think that?"

Yep. There was definitely something going on. But already she was getting tired of his games…

" _Just_ tell me. The sooner you do, the sooner it can be fixed."

Huh. Where did _that_ come from? Not only was she sprouting words of wisdom instead of spewing vulgar curses, but her hard knot of anger had shrunk to a small thread of annoyance.

But before she could ponder over the issue further, Ninetails lowered his head and mumbled something unintelligible.

"What was that now?"

Slowly, Ninetails raised his masked head, sulfuric yellow eyes filled with the embarrassment of failure.

"The hordes… well, they've been destroyed. Mutilated, even."

Never mind. That knot hadn't vanished; it was back now, full of fire just waiting to be released.

"WHAT!?"

"I think we've underestimated our little friend in green. No one has ever done what he's accomplished in his first three days here."

"OHOHOHO, YOU _THINK_!? WE HAVEN'T HAD THIS MUCH TROUBLE SINCE WE TRIED TO CATCH THAT INFURIATING CAT GODDESS KABEGAMI! IF THIS CONTINUES, WE COULD EVENTUALLY LOSE OUR GRIP ON NIPPON!"

Ninetails silently watched as she used her brush work to utterly demolish every stalactite and stalagmite in the area. He stood mountain-still as stone chips whizzed around him like they were pieces of shattered glass, while with every flick of Amaterasu's tail, an invisible sword sent another stone tooth flying into pieces. It was quick, brutal work, and soon the only things that remained of nature's magnificent maw were the red-stained pebble slices that littered the ground like the fleas on a wild dog.

When she noticed there was nothing left to smash, she started pacing angrily back and forth, barely noticing the sting of pain as she cut her over the jagged rocks that littered the cave floor. Finally, she was able to calm herself down enough to the point of sanity. Through it all, Ninetails stood so still he may have been frozen in time, if not for the fact that his chest was slowly moving up and down.

When Amaterasu had finally turned to face him once more, not even glancing at the streaks of red that stained his fur, he asked, as gently as he could:

"So… what are your orders, Amaterasu?"

She pondered this for a moment, then asked in an equally soft voice:

"Do you know where they were headed next?"

"According to several of the imps who came crawling back, they were last seen near the Eastern Sea, heading directly west towards Shinshu Field."

"Then they must be headed for Kamiki Village. Who did we send to watch that area?"

"I believe it was the Crimson Helm."

Slowly, a smile began to grow on Amaterasu's face. Finally, something was going right.

"That's right. I relocated him a few days ago to block off their main source of water."

"But doesn't a river run straight through the village?"

"It used to, until I had one of the hordes dam it. Crimson Helm guards the dam. Since that stupid barrier still protects the village, I thought that I'd try something different."

At this, Ninetails expression turned… was that _pride_ plastered over his face?!

"That's good. It seems that you've finally started to pull your own weight around here."

"WHAT!?"

"Nothing."

Amaterasu knew that she would have to find a way to get back at him, but there were more pressing matters to deal with first.

"Whatever. Inform the Crimson Helm of the current situation. He's been dying to do something ever since the annihilation of Kamui."

"Of course. What should I tell him?"

Amaterasu thought back to her dream. One of the wolf's many forms had been similar in appearance to the very same child who was now threatening to compromise their plans. For a moment, she hesitated, unsure whether the decision she was about to make was wise or not.

"Well? Should I send him after our little 'heroes'?"

"Hmm? Oh, no. If they're going to Kamiki, they'll come to the Crimson Helm, there's no need for that."

Something inside was stirring… something she hadn't felt in a long time. A certain positive emotion that hurt to even think about. It was silly, but…

Amaterasu breathed out a long sigh, and lowered her head to the floor.

"Tell him to kill the Oina and the poncle, but if at all possible, leave the blue-eyed boy alive for questioning."

 **Author's Note:** _ ***Sigh***_ **Well, this still took a long time to get out. And it's still kinda short. Probably still need to work on that. But there isn't much else to say. Villains are villains, after all. I already have an idea for what happens next, though. Until next time.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note: This segment was originally going to be about Link meeting everyone in the village for the first time. But then I realized that it didn't make much sense for townsfolk to accept travelers at times of crisis, especially when supplies are low. So then I took it in a new direction, and I'm honestly a little surprised that I didn't see it earlier. I hope you enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I own neither the Legend of Zelda nor Okami.**

 _It takes a special skill to act like a tired, miffed, sore, and bothered night guard. But when Link looked at his friend's slumbering forms, it suddenly got a whole lot easier. Thanks to a fire arrow and some quick thinking, the fire was now roaring as bright and warmly as ever. He would have loved to curl up on the warm sand, to feel the gentle caress of man's greatest discovery…_

 _Link stood up abruptly, rubbing the sleep out his eyes. He'd almost dozed off! Time to get the blood flowing. But first…_

 _Link reached into his inventory and pulled out the scroll he had received from Tachigami. It was time to learn some new moves. Glancing over_ Ending Blow _(simple enough. Knock an enemy down and finish him off) and_ Shield Attack _(also quite simple. Wait for the attack and bash it away with the shield), he focused his attention on the last four entries:_ Back Slice, Helm Splitter, Mortal Draw, _and_ Jump Strike. _Mortal Draw sounded interesting, so he started to read the dialogue._

Mortal Draw

Instantly kill or deal enormous damage to an enemy. Hold the Wii Re-

 _Suddenly the letters changed mid sentence, and re-formed to create a less confusing statement._

Mortal Draw

This attack is all about timing. When performing this attack, leave your weapons slung across your back. When an enemy raises it's weapon to strike, catch them off guard by attacking their exposed vitals with a powerful move (i.e. a spin attack). When performed correctly, most of your opponents are defeated almost immediately.

 _Link frowned to himself. Interesting, but a little hard to practice alone. He moved onto the next attack._

Jump Strike

A bit like the spin attack, except the energy that you use is channeled into a jump attack. When charging, hold your sword in both hands as if going for a jump strike. That energy can then be released, first for an upward slash to launch upward (to attack any enemy or enemies in front of you) then slamming your sword on the ground. Effective against multiple enemies.

 _Another interesting attack. But he didn't really want to wake Oki and Proxi…_

 _Maybe Back Slice?_

Back Slice

Why fight the enemy head-on when you can attack their back? When your enemy strikes, dodge out of the way by rolling around behind them, performing an upper-cut to strike where they least expect it.

 _Link smiled. Now_ that _he could practice. But first, he needed to find something to "attack"._

 _After a quick search of the beach, Link eventually found a good sized rock about the size of his head. Carrying it down the beach, he let it drop to the sand, a safe distance away from both the fire and his sleeping friends. Drawing his sword, Link took a few practice swings before settling into a familiar fighting stance. Focusing on the rock in front of him like he was giving it a death glare, he leapt to the side, twisting himself in the air so that landed on his shoulder._

 _A sharp pain tore through his arm, and Link let out an involuntary scream of pain as he landed on the sand. For a moment, he just lay there, staring up at the sky of an eternal night._

 _Then he burst out laughing. It had been a while since he'd been injured in something as simple as a training session. It was almost ridiculous to think that this kind of self harm stung a lot more than the cuts and scrapes received from enemy blades. Not only did Link have to deal with a bruised arm, it made him less willing to try the move out again._

 _But if he'd ever listened to_ that _voice, he'd still be back in the Kokiri Forest._

 _Link got to his feet. He'd understood what he'd done wrong: instead of landing at an angle and letting his shoulders roll to distribute the impact, he hadn't turned enough and his shoulder had taken the brunt of the impact. That's why you trained on sand first…_

 _Facing the stone again, he took a deep breath. He jumped to the side, and as he twisted himself in the air, this time he_ knew _he'd land it perfectly. And he did, tucking into a perfect roll as he rolled his shoulders and went airborne once more. Twisting himself once more, he landed in a crouch. Then, gathering up all the strength in his legs, he jumped as though he were a bird, bringing his sword up into a powerful and satisfying uppercut._

 _There! An almost perfect execution of the move! Now, Helm Splitter… That was funny, it sounded like a move that he'd pulled off in his first fight in Nippon._

 _Glancing over the entry, he could see that he was right! So why was it appearing on the scroll if he already knew what it was?_

 _Frowning, he stuffed the scroll into a free pocket and shrugged mentally._

 _Whatever. It wasn't important. He'd think about it later. But for now, Oki was finally starting to wake up. Time to see this "Kamiki Village" that he'd talked about._

" _HEY! YOU IDIOT! GO AWAY! THE LAST THING WE NEED IS ANOTHER MOUTH TO FEED, SO SHUT THE HECK UP AND KINDLY MOVE YOUR BUTTS ON OUTTA HERE!"_

 _Link winced. That didn't exactly sound like the nice, sunny townsfolk that Oki had promised earlier._

 _They were standing on the wood floor of a small house. In contrast to the horrible nightmare that awaited just outside the door, the place was brilliantly light up, lanterns hanging everywhere like books in a library. Each was the same simple design, bearing the same symbol written on the tops: A red circle with the word "Okami" scrawled inside ("Okami" meaning "wolf". According to Proxi, each lamp symbolized the hope of a certain individual, that the goddess would return to vanquish evil from the land. Link was left to wonder if divinity could really cause people to view their heroes so differently). Other than that, the room was bare, but the trap-door that Oki currently stood over was still almost invisible._

 _It had been a mad dash to the village, Oki as a wolf and Link on Epona, but surprisingly enough, no monsters had been spotted, let alone drawn near. It had been a little eerie to be sure, and every few moments, one of the three had felt the need to glance back over their shoulders. When they had finally made it, descending through familiar looking forest (had Link really gone that far?...), Link had been impressed. Even in it's derelict state, river dry, old and decrepit buildings, he'd been able to tell that it had once been an amazing place._

 _Oki had seemed unsettled when he'd seen the dry river, however, which in turn worried Link. He had a feeling that the dried river had been a recent development, and probably the only safe water source around for miles. Link smelled dirty work afoot..._

 _Now, Oki seemed to be rolling his eyes (why he insisted on keeping that mask on at all times puzzled Link, as Oki was quite the handsome man)._

" _Look, Susano. It's me, Oki. I told Mr. Orange that I'd be back with help soon, and here I am. So just do everyone a favor and let us in, okay?"_

 _The deep, manly voice grunted off a laugh, then continued its relentless tirade._

" _HA! THAT 'HELP' HAS ARRIVED A LITTLE LATE, HASN'T IT? HALF THE VILLAGE HAS BEEN DYING OF DEHYDRATION, OR HAVE YOU NOT NOTICED OUT 'LITTLE' DRY RIVER PROBLEM?"_

 _Oki looked even more worried than before, if that was even possible._

" _Yeah… I've noticed. But hasn't there been enough sake to go around?"_

 _Sake? What was sake?_

 _A noise somewhere between a snort and a cough replied._

" _Yeah… until the whole supply just up and broke for no reason at all. Besides, that stuff does more harm than good."_

" _That's… a little rich coming from you, Susano."_

" _Yeah, whatever. Point is, we're all going to die soon if the that blasted river dam doesn't come down soon."_

" _Wait, Susano, you mean to tell me that someone_ dammed _the river?_

" _Some_ thing _. A big ol' brute the size of a house started doing it a couple days ago. He was so strong he could move boulders the size of a small hill with his pinky while holding off an army with the other pinky. No way to fight it."_

 _Oki frowned._

" _A monster the size of the house? What…"_

" _IT DOESN'T MATTER! IF YOU REALLY HAVE BROUGHT HELP, THEN I'M NOT LETTING YOU PAST UNTIL IT'S DEAD!"_

 _And with those wonderful parting words, the pattering of footsteps could be heard, slowly becoming more indistinct as they headed further underground._

 _Oki sighed, and he turned to face Link, who was standing at attention, and Proxi, who hadn't moved much from her perch on Link's shoulder._

" _Well," Oki said, fingering his sword in nervous anticipation, "Sorry about that. You don't mind helping me stop this monster, right? I mean, I'd tackle it myself, but you're looking at a guy who almost got killed by a spider's rear end. What do you say?"_

 _The only response Oki got was the rush of air that blew past him on the way out the door... and the dazed poncle that crashed into his head a moment later._

 **Author's note: I'm actually really excited to start working on the Crimson Helm fight. I know this chapter kind of ended a little abruptly, but it honestly felt like the best place to stop. Just like saving your game before a big dungeon boss fight. Oh, and happy new year by the way! I can't promise much, but I will try to post again soon!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's note: I'm just going to get right into it, if you don't mind.**

 **Disclaimer: I own neither the Legend of Zelda nor Okami**

 _Slipping off the bunny hood and storing it safely in his bag, Link paused a moment to glance over his shoulder. Nothing but glowing fairy mushrooms and dead trees._

 _He breathed a silent sigh of relief, glad that he'd lost both Proxi and Oki, even though his heart burned with regret. Link knew that it was wrong of him to leave his friends like that, but he hadn't wanted to put them in any more danger than was necessary. Oki had said so himself: he had almost died during the last battle._

 _And… Link cursed himself for thinking this, but… it was a lot easier to fight a battle without needing to worry about taking care of anyone else. It was something that he hadn't needed to worry about before (his final fight with Ganon didn't count. Zelda didn't even do anything until the end), and he was surprised how taxing it could be, keeping track of Oki and making sure that Link could come to Oki's aide if he needed it._

 _But besides that, at least it would be a good opportunity to get more comfortable with his wolf form. Specifically, his sense of smell._

 _Sure, the mask of scents improved his nose (not literally), but wearing it was more of a chore than anything else. Besides, the only things he could really find while wearing it were little purple mushrooms that made him light-headed just being near them. Combine that with the fact that it restricted his breathing (making him sound like a sick pig), it made for an extremely unpleasant experience._

 _But as a wolf… oh, it was like stepping into a whole other world. And considering the state Nippon was in at the moment, it was a fairly pleasant world. Sure, the whole land stank with death, but there was also something...refreshing...about the air, if that made any sense. It was almost like breathing in the air itself was giving him fresh new hope that everything would be alright, something that only the superior senses of an animal could pick up._

 _Almost trembling with excitement, Link took the wolf mask from his pack. This time, the transformation was instantaneous, and brought with it a sense of comfort, like the feeling one gets when slipping into a familiar set of clothing._

 _What was_ not _comforting was the stench of evil, the fact that it clung everywhere, that the few creatures who had survived were nowhere to be seen. It was almost enough to send him reeling, and left him feeling extremely unsettled. So unsettled, in fact, that he called for Epona before he even knew what he was doing._

 _After a few moments, the young mare came thundering towards Link, weaving her way through trees as though she had lived there her whole life. Skidding to a sudden halt, Epona looked at him questioningly, then asked: "What happened to your new friends?"_

 _Sighing, Link quickly explained the crime he had committed to his loyal companion. She did not look at him with shock, hate, rage, or even condescension. Instead, the expression she wore on her face was one Link knew rather well: comfort._

" _I thought so," she said, tossing her head back. "Ever since I've known you, I've seen that you always like to work alone. You just have this sort of...look in your eyes when you're around people. You love the people you are trying to save, and because of that love you are afraid of what will happen to them if you fail. So no, you are not a terrible person. You're just… like a mother who feels the responsibility of taking care of an abnormally large group of children."_

 _Huh. That was actually a pretty spot-on description. And this was coming from a mare who wasn't quite one year old! Nayru had certainly blessed her well._

 _Link was so startled by Epona's wisdom, in fact, that for at least five minutes the only thing that he could do was gape in astonishment. Finally, she broke the silence by asking:_

" _So, was there any other particular reason that you called me here?"_

 _Link finally shook himself out of his stupor and nodded, asking her to help him track down the large monster/brush god, or at least provide some sort of emotional support. There was something extremely unsettling in the air, maybe because he was in wolf form and could sense much more of the presence of evil. Or maybe it was just a strong case of pre-battle nerves._

 _He would've turned back into a Hylian, or at least a form he felt more comfortable in, but doing so would reveal his position to anything lurking afar or nearby. So after Epona agreed to walk with him, Link started to track the scent._

 _It was surprisingly easy. Maybe it was just because everything around him was dead, but picking out the evilest scent of the bunch gave him no troubles whatsoever. The hunt was on._

 _Slowly, the duo made their way through the woods and straight towards the scent. Some moments, he had to be gently corrected by Epona, who knew how to find the fresher scents better than he did. Eventually, they found themselves near Shinshu Field, just past the great forest that lead to Kamiki Village._

 _And there, right next to the river that led to the dry riverbed, was one of the most imposing creatures that Link had ever seen._

 _A half man, half horse monster, clad in solid looking armor that looked to be on fire (they chose to focus on the beast's size rather than the fact that it was_ literally _on fire!?) stood guard next to an impressive pile of stone that blocked off the healthiest looking water that Link had seen since coming to Nippon. Despite being blocked a couple of days ago, the river had not yet spilled over, yet it was almost at the point of doing so._

 _But Link was not there to look at the river. He began to examine his opponent._

 _The first thing Link noticed was the smell. Brimstone with a hint of something evil, at least evilly terrible. The usual stink of monster, but blown up to a thousand times more potent, both because of the large size of the monster and his now sensitive nose. Yet there was a small hint of something nice, like the wind that swept through Hyrule Field, carrying the sense of adventure like nothing else could._

 _Then it was gone. The terrifying beast turned to scan a new section of Shinshu field, leaving its rear exposed. Link continued his analysis._

 _There were two, extremely thin and long swords slung across the monster's back. Judging by the way the monster held itself, it knew how to use them. Link would have to be careful when facing this skilled opponent, that much was for certain. Quickly he scanned for weak points._

 _The legs seemed like a good place to start; there wasn't much armor, probably to allow for greater movement, so he felt that if he could get a good hit to one or two of the legs, it would make the fight a lot easier._

 _Studying the creature even more, he decided that going for one of the front legs would be best. More of its weight (or at least the head) was piled on the front of the body, so crippling the front legs could win this fight before it began._

 _Quickly, quietly humming the song of healing, he removed the mask and placed it deep within his bag. Although doing this alerted the monster to his presence, it was worth it to change into a form where he could actually fight._

 _The monster wheeled around and started to walk towards their hiding place. After whispering in Epona's ear to tell her to stay put, he charged out of the trees with a mighty yell and swung his sword at the monster's right leg._

 _CLANG!_

 _The monster had drawn its swords so fast Link almost missed the movement. Luckily he just managed to block the monster's left sword as it nearly cut into his head._

 _They pulled away, and started to circle one another, neither willing to make the next strike. Each had seen what the other was capable of, and both knew that every little moment would count._

" _So, this is the blue-eyed boy I was told to keep an eye out for."_

 _The monster's voice was powerful, yet weak. Terrifying, yet pathetic. Awe-striking, yet pitiful. This monster was not all that it seemed to be. Like Ganon, the monster had the guise of a pig. Except this pig had armor thicker than the skin of a Goron, with two thick, burly arms that held both swords, giving it a slightly comical look. Comical, that is, until one found themself on the receiving end of the blade._

" _I am the Crimson Helm," it continued, glowing red eyes never ceasing to leave Link's posture._

" _I have heard many impressive things about you, but I can see that even after all that, I still underestimated you. Your skills are quite remarkable. But I am confident that I can still come on top."_

 _With that, the Crimson Helm launched a barrage of attacks, each slice from each massive sword powerful enough to cut Link cleanly in two. He diverted each attack best he could, but still lost ground. Finally, when the monster lifted both arms over its head, he saw his chance._

 _Jumping out of the way of a blow that seemed to shake the ground, he seized the moment and started attacking what he assumed to be gaps between armor ferociously. For several, heart-sinking moments, his efforts seemed to be futile._

 _But, after the tenth blow, the armor just crumbled into dust. Then the true nature of the Crimson helm was revealed._

 _Where there had once appeared to be a body of flesh and blood, the skeleton of an enormous pig stood (less than proud), the humanoid arms appearing to have been grafted on by some unnatural methods. What's more, the skeleton was on fire, burning with such heat that the dead grass around it started to burn. Those red eyes were still there, and they glowed with an intense fury that the insolent boy had discovered its secret._

 _Letting out a roar that was neither human nor pig, but some unholy mixture of the two, the Helm lit its blades with the same intense fire and lunged at Link. He barely managed to duck, scalded by intense proximity to the flames._

 _Pulling out his bow, he sent several ice arrows straight at the monster's chest. These, however, did next to nothing to quench the flames. They only flickered, and burned brighter than before._

 _Holding Divine Retribution to his face in a feeble attempt to ward off the heat, he was surprised to see the monster hesitate, even if just for a moment. But that moment was all he needed to reach into his bag and pull out a mask._

 _Slapping the Goron mask on his face, Link just managed to tuck into an impenetrable ball of rock just as the Crimson Helm sent one of its sharp swords into his rock-hard body._

 _The impact hurt. It also sent him flying several hundred meters into Shinshu Field. He wasted no moment rolling straight back towards the scene of the battle. The hard, rocky ground gave him plenty of purchase, and before he knew it, the Crimson Helm was only a couple meters away, surprise the only expression the monster could muster._

 _That surprise, however, quickly turned into pain as a solid mass of iron spikes and rock crashed into the Helm's left leg, vaporizing the bone instantaneously._

 _Coming out of the roll, Link quickly pulled the mask off his face and turned to rush towards the monster, hoping to finish it off now that the Helm was missing a leg._

 _Unfortunately, the monster appeared to have more magic than Link had originally thought. The remaining legs didn't look like they were taking any more strain, and the Helm was standing as though it hadn't lost any leg in the first place. So instead, Link took a moment to recover and waited for the Helm's next move._

 _It came sooner than he expected, and caught him completely off guard. The monster plunged its swords into the ground. A ring of fire, the flames high as a small hut and intense enough to melt rock, trapped the two enemies together in an inescapable trap, not entirely different from what the Garro were able to do._

 _As the Helm pulled its swords out of the ground, new armor formed around its body, covering the empty air where its leg used to be with a new shell of armor._

" _Impressive trick," The Crimson Helm groaned, settling into a new battle position._

" _I admit, if I'd known you were a shapeshifter, I might have turned tail and run the other way. But now you've taken a part of me. I can't let that stand. Yet I know you're the better of the two of us. So what I lack in swordsmanship..."_

 _He stepped out of the circle of flames, barely even seeming to notice them. Then the circle began to grow smaller, forcing Link to move the center as they started to trap him._

" _...I can make up for in cowardice. Amaterasu wanted you alive, but only if it was possible, which it might still be."_

 _It was getting a little hard to breathe. He felt as though his skin would melt if it got any hotter. He thought that Death Mountain had been hot. But surely even a Goron couldn't stand this terrible fire for long._

" _It can be a little game. If you pass out from lack of oxygen, I can take you back to our base. If the fire consumes you before then...well, either way, this is goodbye. I believe that at least this time, I am the victor."_

 _It was getting hard to see, his lungs were filled with nothing but smoke. It was a struggle to even stay up, but he forced himself to. The flames were at an arm's reach all around him. To collapse now would be a fatal mistake. Yet what could he do?_

 _And then, all of a sudden, relief._

 _A wave of cool, refreshing water crashed down on him, dousing the flames and soothing his burning skin. He had never been so glad in his life to see a wolf carrying a blue ball of light._

" _HEY! KID! WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL? I KNOW WE'RE NOT THE GREATEST PEOPLE TO HAVE AROUND, BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN RUN AWAY LIKE THAT!"_

 _Oki saved him from a response by turning back into a human and gently flicking Proxi._

" _Hey, you can talk about that later. Right now you've gotta tell us how to beat that pig demon."_

 _The demon in question was glaring at all three of them with enough intensity to vaporize water. It was soaked from head to toe and looked like it could slice through a whole forest with one chop of its mighty swords._

 _Proxi glanced over, and her expression turned unreadable._

" _Oh. Right. I think Issun had something to say about that. Let me just check his notes."_

 _The Crimson Helm charged forward, swords outstretched. Link and Oki each locked swords with a blade, the impact causing them to slide back several feet. Coming out of the charge, the Crimson Helm unleashed its pure rage with each brutal swing. Though Link and Oki managed to block the blows, they were quickly tiring, and neither had delivered much in the way of counterattacks._

" _Hmmm...these are the imps...there's some more imps...that's the Spider Queen…"_

 _A particularly wild thrust gave Link the opportunity he needed to launch himself onto the Helm's back, where he fought to keep his balance._

" _Why are there so many imps? Ah, that's why. Looks like he never got around to straightening these out. Wait, what's_ that _doing there?"_

 _Oki was now trying to fend off both swords at the same time. Somehow he managed to meet each crushing blow, but sooner or later he would mess up._

" _Could you...be any...slower?" Oki managed to gasp out between swings._

" _Yeah, yeah. It's not easy as it looks. Issun has notes on a wide variety of topics, from demon gates to boss monsters to what type of feed certain animals eat! Not to mention he has some kind of screwed up alphabetized system to organize it! Wait, hold-up…"_

 _As Proxi continued to search her notes, Link scored ten quick hits to the side of the Crimson Helm's head. The armor crumbled to dust, sending Link jumping straight off. Joining Oki in battle once more, they each managed to land several crushing hits to the terrifying skeleton. But the damage was far too little, and the Helm was angrier than ever._

 _Link's pack seemed to grow three times heavier. He knew that he held the power to defeat the Crimson Helm as easily as squashing a bug. But last time...the power had been so great that he nearly lost himself in the Fierce Deity Mask. Unless the alternative was death, he was unwilling to take that risk. Yet if he didn't do_ something…

 _The Crimson Helm acquired a new set of armor. In the delay, he wondered if he should go for the water, if being a Zora would help in this situation. But as Link's mind raced through options, Proxi found exactly what she was looking for._

" _AHA! I thought so! The Helm, while claiming to have mastered fire, is afraid of the exact same thing. In life, he was killed by Divine Flame in a fight with Shiranui, a flame that burns bright with the fury of the gods. So USE THAT SHIELD YOU FOOL!"_

 _As though it could hear Proxi, Divine Retribution chose that moment to fly off his arm, blazing fiercely in the presence of the Crimson Helm, who recoiled in fear. Link seized the chance and he took it._

 _The demon cried out as it was consumed by a wall of the Divine Flames. It collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily, armor melted away. The skeleton, parts of it exposed through the semi-melted armor, now shown with the same inky black substance seen infecting the Spider Queen. Link pulled out his Ocarina and started to play._

 **Author's note: Yeah, sorry. It's been what, like three months? Sorry. I've been a little distracted with some other stuff. I'm already working on the next chapter. Hope to be back on track soon!**

 **As always, I welcome critique and review, so a big thanks to everyone who has already done so, and please continue to supply me with feedback!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's Note: I'm back! Time for more Zelda/Okami fun!**

 **Disclaimer: I own neither The Legend of Zelda nor Okami.**

 _Link lowered the Ocarina. The Crimson Helm disappeared in a ball of white light. A small, inky black humanoid creature was expunged from the center, almost straight into him!_

 _A last-minute spin-attack saved him from an unknown fate, and the creature exploded, its substance vanishing into the night air. Sheathing his sword, Link turned to face the ball of light, eager to see what it contained._

 _He didn't have long to wait. A powerful tornado suddenly replaced the ball of light, tall enough to touch the night sky, and loud enough to deafen an entire population. As Link, Oki, and Proxi watched, clothes whipping wildly about them, the tornado shrunk in on itself, twisting and conforming into the shape of a powerful white stallion. His eyes burned like lightning, his long white mane and tail jerked powerfully about him. Even without the tell-tale blood-red markings of a god, Link could've seen immediately that this was a powerful deity. Strangely enough (at least to Link), a green fan was perched on the stallion's back like a saddle, for a purpose unknown to Link._

 _The stallion let out a whinny that seemed to echo throughout the entire land. Link fought the urge to cover his ears as he knelt before the proud creature. Oki was quick to follow, Proxi struggling to hold a curtsy on his shoulder._

 _Epona came bursting out of the trees. The stallion turned to face her as she bowed, so close she was almost touching. They conversed a moment before Epona rose and stood by Link._

" _Rise, young one." The stallion spoke with the power of a gale._

" _Those who treat their dear friends as well as you do deserve as much praise as does a god."_

 _Link stood up, blood rushing to his cheeks as he stared eye-to-eye with the magnificent creature._

" _I am Kazegami. Brush God of Galestorm."_

 _As he spoke, the fan on his back fluttered dramatically in a sudden breeze, a breeze that smelled just like adventure. As soon as he had the thought, the breeze disappeared, seeming to be sucked into the fan on Kazegami's back._

" _Before anyone asks: yes poncle, I will teach you the technique, yes I will break away the dam, and yes," the Brush God's gaze fell on Link._

" _I will give you a gift for saving me. Whether you like it or not."_

 _Proxi laughed as Link blushed. The horse walked past him, heading directly for the river. Suddenly the stallion stopped, as though considering something. When he spoke again, his voice had a hint of a twinkle in it, as though setting up for a practical joke._

" _Actually...why don't you get started on that, little warrior? I trust that you have the scale Nuregami gave you?"_

 _Link nodded._

" _Good. Experiment with it a little while I help the poncle. Your companion tells me that her patience sometimes runs quite thin."_

 _It was Link's turn to laugh as Proxi herself blushed, muttering something about not wanting to miss a moment of life._

" _Then I hope you are a quick learner. I could not bear to watch precious moments of your life drain away as you struggle to learn my sacred art. After all, I'm supposed to be saving your soul, not dooming it to endless torment."_

 _Oki joined in on the laughter as Link moved to the river, pulling the Zora mask out of his bag. He stopped in surprise when his hand ran over a jagged crack set in the otherwise smooth mask. Looking down, he was horrified to see that the crack split the mask almost in half._

" _Magic from different worlds doesn't mix well."_

 _Link turned to see Kazegami striding towards him. The stallion seemed to always portray a regal air, almost comically at some points. This was not one of those points._

" _You have created something powerful, yes, but each side has fought to gain control, to destroy the other. And in Nippon,"_

 _He gestured towards the mask._

" _Well, you can see which side is winning out."_

 _Kazegami stopped mere feet in front of Link, eyes amber globes that saw straight into Link's soul._

" _But that's not entirely the point. Each of those relics are equally powerful on their own. Why combine them? I guess what I'm trying to say is: too much power is good for no man, god, or creature."_

 _At this, Kazegami looked at him curiously, deep in contemplation._

" _But...you already knew that, didn't you?"_

 _Ganondorf. Majora. The Fierce Deity. Link could only nod to confirm, as the masks in his bag suddenly gained a few pounds. Without hesitation, but with a great deal of effort, he ripped the two relics appart._

 _There was a quick burst of light, and suddenly he held two objects instead of one. The Zora mask and Nuregami's scale._

 _At the sight of the scale, Kazegami shook his head in disgust._

" _My sister may be powerful, but she's also quite young and naive. It's why we trapped her in a flask, so that her influence can't spread and create an even bigger mess than the one we're in."_

 _He turned away from Link, heading back to Proxi (who was struggling to figure out how to keep herself from feeling the effects of Galestorm), but not before leaving him with a final message._

" _I suggest you stick with the magic you know, until you figure out how to use that scale."_

 _Link pocketed the scale, then slipped on the Zora mask. He grimaced in pain as he did so, and found himself longing for the familiar wolf form. He quickly pushed the thought away and dove into the water._

 _Drifting down to rest on the river bottom, Link stared in awe at the massive pile of rocks that so effectively stopped any water from seeping through. Not a crack anywhere. Still, even the strongest of walls have their weak points. This was no exception._

 _Searching hard and thoroughly, Link finally found a place where the rocks seemed a little loose. He didn't know if it was a good idea, but he swum a little upriver and got ready to charge. Taking a moment to locate the loose rock, he charged forward with all the might of a Zora, magic streaming off and encapsulating his body in a force field._

 _He hit. Hard._

 _Yet the effects were so minimal that he may as well have thrown a cucco at it. Clearly this wasn't going to work. If only he could use his bombs…_

 _He slapped a hand to his forehead._

 _Well, there was a dry side to the river! Why couldn't he use his bombs?_

 _He leapt out of the river, landing in a roll on the bank. Taking off the mask, he examined the other side of the blockade. Not too much water, so he should be fine just tossing the bombs down._

 _So that's what he did. Throwing down five or so of the explosive crammed packages, he ran back towards the others, covering his ears as the dam burst with an earthshaking BOOM loud enough to rival Kazegami's entrance._

 _The air seemed to be clearer, it felt easier to breathe. So was the water's power, as it flowed free and breathed life back into the land._

" _Well, I suppose you could do it like that too." Kazegami said, a little awestruck, a little amused. "Either way, the job's done, and I need to find a suitable gift for a young hero like you."_

 _Link blushed. Oki, standing quietly nearby, said nothing, but did seem a little annoyed by the way that things were going. Kazegami seemed to see it to, because the next words he spoke were to Oki._

" _And don't think that I've forgotten about you, little Oina." He said, slowly moving to meet him. "Your courage is quite commendable. Why, you almost have as much as our young hero!"_

 _Oki took off his mask and smiled._

" _I know how much you have suffered, young one. But I assure you, none of this is your fault. It would have happened whether or not you had taken that sacred sword."_

 _Oki looked surprised, and could only manage to stutter a response._

" _Th-thank you, Great One."_

" _Don't worry," Kazegami continued, "If your quest succeeds, everything will be returned to the way that it once was."_

 _It was as if a great burden was lifted from Oki's shoulders. His face hardened in determination as Kazegami turned back towards Link, finally ready to give him a gift._

" _Now then, do you have any-oh?"_

 _Link's pouch suddenly rustled as something inside seemed to be struggling to get out. Cautiously reaching inside his bag, he pulled out a hard, wooden item._

 _His boomerang?_

 _Kazegami looked thoughtful._

" _Hmm...can you show me what you can do with that?"_

 _Link nodded, then threw the boomerang towards Oki. When he reached out to catch it, the boomerang curved back and returned to Link's hand. The expressions of awe were almost comical to see._

" _Interesting…" Kazegami muttered to himself, "Can I see that for a moment?"_

 _Link held it out for Kazegami to look at it. After a moment's thought, Kazegami whistled a single note. After a little, a powerful gust of wind blew into being. It took the shape of a young girl._

" _You called for me, master?" She sounded young, and there was almost a musical quality to her voice, almost like little bells._

 _Kazegami smiled. "Yes. Do you think that you could help out this young lad here?" He gestured towards Link. "You see, I've made the unfortunate mistake of promising him a gift. And I thought that-"_

" _Oh, stop it already Kazegami," the wind spirit said, seeming unaffected by the flowery words, "What do you need me to posses?"_

" _A stick."_

" _A stick!?"_

" _Not just an ordinary stick! A stick that...well, watch!"_

 _Link decided that was his cue to throw the sti-boomerang again. Once caught, the spirit didn't say anything, but Link could tell that she was impressed._

" _Well, at least I'll be able to get away from you for a while. I'll do it."_

 _Kazegami bowed deeply. "My humble-"_

" _Yeah, yeah. I got it."_

 _With a flash, the boomerang was transformed. It became bigger, more stylized. The way that it was shaped reminded Link more of a bird's wing._

 _When he threw it this time, it became engulfed in a miniature tornado, racing through the air and returning to his hand in a flash._

 _Kazegami smiled._

" _Well, looks like my work here is done. Good luck young heros!"_

 _And with that the stallion vanished as abruptly as he came. All that was left of him was the same breeze Link had felt a moment before he fought the Crimson Helm. The breeze that carried the breath of freedom._

 **Author's note: Yeah. Okay. I feel like I can only apologize so many times. I know it seems a little short, but I'm already working on the next chapter.**

 **Uhh...May the goddess smile upon you.**


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